The Prince of the Tower
by robbiepoo2341
Summary: Seven-year-old Clint has been chased down by monsters and evil government types, and the Avengers think that they can shelter him and his mom. But with the kinds of threats they're facing, can anyone actually keep them safe? In the third installment of the 495 Marvel Universe, we'll just have to wait and see.
1. Welcome to Avengers Tower

**Notes: Moar tinyClint! This story is just way too much fun to play with, and now, we get to really see Clint in his element in Avengers Tower... even if in this version, he's not an Avenger but a cute little kid. (Note: Not an Avenger YET, I should say.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Welcome to Avengers Tower**

* * *

The tower was big in a different way than the institute had been big. The institute had felt like something that a nobleman from Robin Hood's time had lived in that was just updated to have, like, TVs and stuff. The tower felt like Tony Stark had just dropped a bunch of rooms on top of each other and made everything shiny and new.

It took a lot of getting used to, especially because Clint had finally felt like he knew where everything was in the institute — and now he had a whole new place to learn.

He did know the basics, at least, like how to find the kitchen and the living room from Logan's room where he and his mom were staying. Which was good, because his mom was still absolutely _dead_ asleep that morning, even though she usually woke up before him.

He decided to let her sleep, because he had never seen her that tired except when she got in that fight with Sabretooth, and got himself downstairs to the kitchen.

Nothing there was built for people his size, but he still managed. Tony had bought a few cereals that looked like sugary kids' cereals, and he found the one that said it had a toy in the box, set that on the counter, and pushed a chair over so he could climb up to reach a bowl. By the time he had also gotten out the milk and a spoon, he had drawn an audience — though he hadn't heard anyone coming when he was focused on the task at hand.

So he totally startled when Jan sat down on the stool next to him after he'd finally climbed up to have his breakfast. "Do you do that every morning?" she asked. "That's… an impressive workout for a bowl of cereal."

"The other place wasn't this … tall."

"I know; it drives me nuts too," Jan said, leaning forward with a smile.

"I can do it, though," Clint insisted quickly. "I'm big enough."

"Of course you are," she said, smiling wider. "You took care of it, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh." Clint tipped his head to the side. "D'you want some?" he asked. "I can probably get you a bowl…"

"I can get my own," Jan said, tipping her chin up slightly. "You enjoy yours before it gets soggy."

"Yeah, that's gross," Clint agreed. "And then the milk turns weird colors."

"Only when you eat the stuff that's weird colors to begin with," she pointed out as she headed over to get herself some cereal too — if nothing else, to use the chance to talk with him. "So. How do you like the Tower so far?"

"It's pretty big," Clint said quietly. "And — and not just 'cause I'm short."

"Yeah, it's a huge building," she agreed.

"It took me a long time to learn where everything was at Jean and Scott's school," he told Jan.

"Well … the good thing about this place is that it's all almost in a circle," Jan said. "Aside from the bedrooms, it's just a loop."

"Oh, is that why I feel like I'm going in circles?" Clint asked with a little, crooked smirk.

She snickered at that and then nodded as seriously as she was able. "What are you reading today? Or are you and your mom just going to get settled in?"

"No, Mom's still sleeping," Clint said with a shrug. "So, I'll probably finish my Hardy Boys. There's, like, ten of 'em that Storm let me have for while we live here, and she has even more at her house!"

"Sounds like she's set to keep you busy," Jan said before she took a long sip of her coffee and glanced at the clock. "What time does your mom usually get up? I'd like to ask her a few things — make sure she's set for clothes … things like that."

"Oh, well, I dunno. She usually wake up before me, so I dunno," Clint said with a shrug.

She tipped her head to the side at that but didn't speak up, not wanting to alarm him. "Well, I'll just check in later then, I guess."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Clint said. "She's real tired, and I know _I_ don't like it when people try to talk to me when I'm real tired." When Jan simply nodded and looked thoughtful at that, Clint kicked his feet against the stool a few times and then glanced up at her. "Are you friends with Jean?" he asked suddenly.

"Um … no," Jan said slowly. "We haven't really crossed paths. Why do you ask?"

"Well, she's real nosy too, and she likes to shop a lot," Clint said in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh, well I guess we need to make friends then, huh?" Jan said, taking it in stride.

Clint nodded. "Uh-huh. Especially 'cause she's having a baby, and she likes to shop for teeny clothes because it makes her happy," he said.

Jan stopped and slowly turned toward Clint. "She what?"

"Yeah, I know, they don't even know if it's a boy or a girl, but she's gettin' stuff anyway," Clint said, completely missing the look on her face. "She's weird."

"I don't think that's weird," Jan said. "She's just excited. And lots of things can be for boys or girls."

"Yeah, I know, but she's got, like, _forever_ to shop, and she does it _all the time_ , which is why I think you should be friends if you like shopping lots," Clint said. "Mom doesn't like to go, and I think Miss Storm would like a break."

She leaned closer and let her voice drop low. "That's a great idea, but if I get involved, then she'll have twice as many baby clothes." She looked both ways and smirked at him. "But … if your mom doesn't like to shop, maybe I can shop _for her._ "

"She might like that," Clint said, nodding slowly. "Especially because I don't think we wanna go outside right now when there's a bad guy after us."

Jan frowned at that. "I heard that Sabretooth was a little problem over there, but I didn't know he was bothering you guys purposefully. I thought it was incidental?"

Clint nodded, his expression turning serious. "He hates Logan, did you know? And he thinks my mom is his girl when she's not and — and he smells really bad and he had me under his arm and it was _the worst_ ," he said, the whole explanation seeming to spill out at once.

Jan shook her head. "I knew about Logan, but … _what_?"

"Miss Wasp, if I knew how come people are crazy, I would be real smart," Clint said, shrugging his shoulders up. "I dunno what his problem is, but he is _not_ my dad or Mom's guy or anything like that."

She blinked at that and shook her head. "Why would … why would he think that?"

Clint bit his lip and glanced over both shoulders before he leaned forward. "Mom's running away from him," he said softly. "I never seen anyone scare her like that."

"I don't know your mom either, kiddo," Jan said. "So … she's pretty tough, huh? Why's she running from him?"

"She's _real_ tough," Clint said, sitting up even taller and looking proud. "She beat up my foster dad when I met her 'cause he was _not_ a nice guy — and she beat up some bad guys with guns that want to make her do stuff she doesn't want to and — and she's not scared of anything except that guy!" He paused. "Well… I guess also the bad guys that he works for, because they're pretty scary, but mostly him, I think."

Jan frowned at that and went back to her cereal for a moment. "He's a very scary guy," she said finally.

"Yeah, he scares me a lot," Clint admitted, biting his lip. "That's how come we're here, 'cause he got to the insti - the inst- the school."

"And Logan thought you'd be better off here for now," Jan said, nodding.

"Well, Captain America said it was okay if we stayed here," Clint said. "He was real mad when he heard that big guy was pickin' on me and Mom."

"He _really_ hates bullies," Jan told him, nodding to herself now that she had a plan of action to find out what was going on. "And … I need to bring Hank some coffee before he gets too far into his work." She smiled at him. "So … enjoy your book. I'll come find you later, okay?"

"Okay!" Clint said, waving her off cheerfully as he went back to his cereal, his feet still kicking the legs of the stool.

Of course, Jan wasn't actually going down to Hank — not yet, anyway — though she did have one coffee in each hand. No, no, the second one was for this mysterious woman that she _still_ somehow hadn't met.

When she got to Logan's room, she knocked brightly. "I brought coffee!" she sang out. "Clint said you were tired, so I thought a little Avenger hospitality might start things off right."

K opened one eye and stretched out at the cheerful voice. "Thanks," she said before she sat up and ran a hand through her hair. "That's very thoughtful, bringer of the nectar from the gods."

Jan beamed at that as she sat down nearby with her own cup. "I wasn't sure how you take it, but I'm sure I can get something else if you like mocha or something…"

"No, no, this is perfectly fine," K promised. "I like it any way it comes, honestly." She took the cup and closed her eyes for a moment as she drew in the scent, then took a long sip. "You're all very sweet."

"Well, if your little boy is any indication, so is your family!" Jan said with a smile.

"That's just him," she said, smirking to herself.

"Oh, right. Clint said you were tough," Jan said, leaning forward slightly. "You know, I'm an Avenger. I can totally help you with whatever you need. Shopping, even."

"If you want to shop, I won't argue with you one bit," K said. "I'll give you my sizes."

"Perfect!" Jan beamed and clapped her hands together. "It's been such a drag having only boys around, you know. And as much as I love Steve, he has _old_ taste. I hate shopping for him; he can't get with the styles!"

"Oh, well, I'm not really crazy about a lot of the new stuff. Crazy angles and too-bright colors," she said. "When I'm not doing jeans, I lean toward old Chanel though, if that helps you out."

"Oh, that's _good_ old-fashioned, though," Jan assured her. She smiled even brighter. "Yes, I can work with that," she said, nodding a few times before she took a sip of coffee and then watched K for a moment longer. "I have to ask… Clint said you two have _Sabretooth_ on your backs? Like, personally? But Clint's so sweet, and you're so… teeny…"

"Teeny isn't a factor that stops him," K replied. "Even after I broke a heel off in his eye socket, it wasn't a good deterrent."

Jan frowned harder at that. "That… okay, um, wow."

"I was kicking him," she said, looking up over the lip of the coffee cup. "With my hands behind my back. It worked. Once, anyhow."

Jan's frown seemed to harden as her eyes narrowed. "That… that no good… rotten… _ugh_." She shook her head as she got to her feet. "No way is he putting one _toe_ in this tower or I'll — I'll grab one of Hank's experiments and shrink something he holds dear!"

"I didn't think his ego was tangible," K muttered.

Jan paused and gave her a small smirk, then shook her head. "I didn't know — I thought you guys were just — I knew about the department, but that?"

"He has worked for the Department for years," K said. "He tracks people down when they try to get out. I slipped him for … _years_."

Jan nodded. "Well, don't you worry. No one's gonna get in here."

"Yeah, I heard, Cap's gonna feed him his shield," K said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, Steve said Clint really liked that line," Jan said with a small smile.

"He's easily entertained and _swayed by the golden locks_ ," K said in an almost breathy voice, one shoulder to her ear.

"Pretty sure that's how any little boy his age is," Jan pointed out. "Cap gets that a lot. It's adorable."

"It's from all the baby kissing he's done over the years," K said. "Indoctrinated."

Jan snickered. "Yes, exactly that." She settled back with her coffee and smiled K's way. "Really, though. Now I see why Steve's so mad. He doesn't usually… _get_ this worked up unless it's Hydra-related."

"Why is he so mad?" K asked, frowning. "This is just … what Victor does."

"Yeah, and apparently what he does makes Steve mad."

"It's ancient history, really. This is just … him being an ass."

"Well, yeah, if he thinks Clint is his and Clint is… how old is he, anyway?" Jan asked.

"Eight in December," K said. "So … the man can't do simple math, clearly."

"He always struck me as the big lumbering idiot type," Jan said.

But at that, K shook her head quickly and seriously. "Yeah, No. Don't fall for that," she said. "He's a lot smarter than he looks."

"He would have to be to breathe," Jan said.

"I'm serious," K said. "He's got a mean streak a mile wide — and he's smart enough to cover his tracks when he wants to. Everyone thinks otherwise though because … he usually doesn't care."

Jan frowned at that and shuddered. "So how come _you_ know about that side?" she couldn't stop herself from asking.

"I was stuck in the department for a long time," she said. "And for a while, they had him working as a handler … do the math."

Jan did a full-body shudder at that. "Ugh. I need a shower just thinking about that. I'm so sorry."

She shrugged. "Wasn't your fault, that's for sure."

"Yeah, but… ugh." Jan shook her head. "That is just… awful."

"You won't catch me arguing that."

"Well, yeah, obviously." Jan shook her head and got to her feet. "Okay, why don't we … talk about something a little less awful first thing in the morning, huh? Maybe I could give you a tour."

She nodded at that and got to her feet. "Sure, let me change real quick. You can give me the skinny on what's what around here. If you're not shy about that, anyhow, I don't care."

"I can just wait outside," Jan offered.

"Shy — that's cute from a girl that flies around in a skin-tight bodysuit," K laughed.

Jan shrugged. "I look _great_ in the skin-tight bodysuit."

"You do," she agreed as she headed over to her bag to pull out a few things. "I'll need all of five minutes, so make your plans." She quickly changed and took a second to drag a brush through her hair before she stepped out with a little time to spare — and the coffee mug in her hand.

And, of course, Jan was waiting for her with a bright smile to take her through the tour of everything she thought K might need to know — ending of course in the living room, where Clint was trying to pretend he was still reading his book even though Steve and Thor were on the other side of the living room chatting.

K waved at Clint and switched to sign quickly. _If you're going to fake it, turn the page now and again._

Clint flushed slightly and nodded. _But I might lose my place…_

 _So use a different book_ — _one you already read._

 _Thanks, Mom,_ Clint replied.

Jan looked impressed. "You taught him sign?"

"Nope, he came that way, wrapped in gossamer clouds and signing up a storm."

Jan couldn't help but laugh at the description. "Okay, seriously, though."

K met her gaze and nodded. "Seriously. Middle finger was the first one he mastered. Even before the thumbs up."

"And I can read lips!" Clint sang out, grinning crookedly at Jan.

"Oh… okay. So you have this kid who knows makeup, can take Tony down a peg, reads lip, knows sign — _where did you find him?_ "

"Gossamer. Clouds." K kept a perfectly straight face.

"It's true," Clint said, abandoning his book as he came over to join their conversation — which was by then catching the attention of the other two Avengers.

"You two are in cahoots," Jan said, though with an obviously entertained smile.

"Is that what you call this place?" K said, winking at Clint.

Clint giggled. "Yeah, c'mon, Wasp, you should know what your own tower is called."

"Cahoots has a nice ring to it," K said, reaching over to pull him into a little hug. "You got up before me, you little punk."

"Well, you were real tired, and I didn't want to wake you," Clint said.

She kissed the top of his head. "Thank you. I guess I needed it more than I thought."

Clint nodded. "Sometimes, getting mad makes you tired," he told her. "And…" He glanced at Jan and then signed the rest: _And getting scared too._

K nodded and gave him a bear hug for that. _Let it go. Lets see if these heroes can do anything. We'll just work our way down the list, yeah?_

 _What happens if we go through everybody, though?_ he asked. He hadn't asked it before, but it was clear that he had been thinking it over and was legitimately worried about it.

 _Then we'll have to do it ourselves, but we'll have time to set something nasty up_. She winked at him with that. "I have … _ideas_." The last word she was sure to make sound overly ominous, raising one eyebrow at him when she said it for effect.

Clint giggled at that, shaking his head at her — though Thor made his way over with an interested sort of look. "You need not worry," he told the two of them in a voice that was somehow both reassuring and booming at the same time. "I have slain frost giants and bested gods. This ogre stands no chance against my hammer."

K smirked and gave him a quick once over. "Do tell, _snygging_."

Thor laughed at that. "Long have I guarded Asgard from countless foes — and here on Midgard, I would do the same. This Sabretooth seems to me a foe deserving of swift justice."

K gestured to Thor and turned her attention to Clint. "See? We'll just let him deal. We can play checkers with the Wasp. Or Monopoly. I get the horse."

"Okay, but I wanna get the car," Clint said, perking up quickly. "I always wanna get the car!"

"You wanna drive Logan's next time? He probably won't mind," K said, smirking harder.

Clint giggled. "I'm not big enough for a _real_ car," he said.

She ruffled his hair and turned back to Thor. "I appreciate anything your group can manage. He's a bit pesty these days."

"Fear not," Thor promised. "I have slain monsters that would devour entire worlds. I will call down the might of Mjolnir, and your problems will be no more. We need only find the villain."

"What do you need?" K asked, looking between Thor and Steve. "Bait? Say when."

"Ah… let's call that Plan … Z," Tony said as he came in to join the party. "Plan A is to get to the department itself and shut it down — and use their intel on how to contact the guy." He made a finger gun and shot it K's way. "Two birds, one stone."

"So … that'll happen … three days after _never_ ," she nodded slowly. "Good to know."

"That's not the only angle we're pursuing," Steve assured her.

"Good, because that's optimistic to a fault," she replied.

"And Logan's already said as much," Steve said. "He and I are doing our own recon too."

K gestured openly. "That's great, but the direct route is live bait when dealing with a rabid, wild animal."

Steve let out a sigh. "I'd rather not risk it, to be honest. If things go wrong, you'd have to live with the consequences."

"Well it's a good thing you wouldn't be the one in the mini-skirt then," K said. "You're not risking it."

"Um, Mom? I thought we were just gonna make Thor do the hammer thing," Clint said quietly.

"I thought so too, but they still need to get the creep to show his ugly face," K agreed. She ran her hand through his hair. "They won't let me do it anyhow, so don't worry." She gestured to the three men. "See? Look at them."

Clint glanced over his shoulder to where the Avengers were presenting a united front and then let his shoulders drop before he hugged K tighter. "Good, 'cause I don't want him to touch you ever again, okay?"

"I'm not overly fond of the idea myself," she promised. "You know … unless it means I can stab him in the face. And whatnot."

"You already got to stab him a lot, and you got hurt, so …"

"Alright, I'll only stab him if it's an emergency," K said. "Otherwise, I'll leave it to the testosterone crew."

"Okay, but that's not their names," Clint said with his nose scrunched up.

"Introduce me, expert Barton," she said, tipping her chin up. "You know better than I do." She gave Jan a little wink over his head and smirked at him when he looked up at her.

Clint watched her with one eye closed for a long moment before he smirked and grabbed her hand. "Okay, we'll play," he said, marching over to start up the introductions — to the clear amusement of every adult in the tower.


	2. K and Logan Sitting in a Tree

**Notes: Griezz, we really can't take the credit for how we got the two teams together. That was J.D. Finck, another excellent writer on this site who is amazing at Captain America ;) We ran with the idea and praised him for it.**

 **Also, to my new reviewer Arly... you probably won't see this note for a while since you're still in the earlier volumes but HELLO HI!**

 **And CC, you know I love me some Jan. She is by far my favorite Non-Hawkeye Avenger ;)**

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 **Chapter 2: K and Logan Sitting in a Tree...**

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Things at the tower were busy. Tony was spending a lot of time working on the new holding cell especially for Sabretooth, and Steve was pouring over any intel he could find with anyone who was free, but Logan still had other duties to attend to in Westchester outside of the Avengers.

Even though it was summer, Ororo was making sure to use him as the go-between to bring Clint new books or whatever else they thought he might need while he was 'locked away in the tower'. There had been more than a few princess in the tower jokes from Bobby, but so far, not one had made it past the front door — or gotten a laugh from anyone.

But Logan had finally gotten a little break from his usual busy schedule and, of course, he decided to get to the tower a lot earlier than usual. When he got there, Clint was watching cartoons with Thor, his book next to him on the table. Both of them were eating the same cereal, too, and Logan was just in time to see Thor pull the toy from the box to give to a highly entertained Clint, too.

Jan was flitting around cheerfully, but Logan was frowning to himself when he realized that K was nowhere to be seen. He took off his jacket and headed to his room to hang it up and froze when he saw she was in bed — passed out asleep.

He'd thought everything was going well at the tower, but he hadn't seen her crashed out like that, so he quietly backed out of the room and made his way over to lean over the couch where Clint was. "Your mom's still sleepin'," he said, frowning a little to himself. "Something happen last night?"

"Oh, no," Clint said, shaking his head. "She's just been sleeping in ever since we got here. I thought she mighta been real tired, but I think she likes the bed or something, I dunno." He shrugged. "She's real comfy, so I just let her sleep."

Logan blinked a few times to himself and turned his head toward the room with a little 'huh' before he stood up straight and headed to the kitchen for coffee.

Where again, he stopped and frowned when he saw the second coffee maker — a lot simpler than the usual one, and just now brewing up a pot. He looked to Jan and gestured to the coffee pot. "What gives?"

Jan followed his pointing hand and then broke into a grin. "Oh, your girlfriend is picky about her coffee. Actually, I've had it the way she makes it, and it's _great_ , but Tony likes his own. You know how he is."

"No taste," Logan said flatly as he made his way over to grab a couple cups. "He's just being stubborn."

"Probably," Jan agreed. She skipped over to Logan to loop her arm through his. "So, are you taking some to her?"

"Figured I would," he said with a nod.

"He just wants kisses," Clint said, waving a hand. "Mom gives him kisses if he's _polite_."

"Oh, she does?" Jan asked, looking like Christmas had come early.

"He's overplayin' it," Logan said, shaking his head at both of them.

"Okay, if you say so," Clint said with a shrug. "But if you end up kissin' my mom, then I guess I was right."

As Logan walked past him, he let out a little growl — just to do it, and because he knew Clint wouldn't be bugged by it. "Troublemaker."

Clint grinned at him as he passed. "That's what Mom says."

Logan was almost to the door when he heard a gleefully giggling Jan: "Mark my calendar, Jarvis — I want to celebrate this day every year. We'll call it 'Polite Logan Day'."

"I hate you," Logan called out over his shoulder before he pushed the door open and closed it behind him. K was still passed out solidly, so he set the coffee down on the nightstand and decided to try and just slip in behind her to pull her into a little hug. "You just gonna sleep all day or what?"

"I have everything I want right now," K said in a smoky tone without opening her eyes. "Coffee, bed, comfy... company ain't bad either …pretty sure Clint is preoccupied by now."

Logan settled in and gave her a little kiss behind the ear and didn't push to get her moving — especially when she seemed perfectly content where she was and he had nothing planned out anyhow.

They stayed like that for a good long while until Clint poked his head in and then immediately made a face. "Oh, ew, I didn't know you were in here with Logan."

"I'm relaxin'," she defended. "What do you need, sweetheart?"

"I just came here to ask if you wanted to play Go Fish with me and Thor."

"That sounds like a rollicking good time," she said before she turned her head to steal a kiss with Logan. "Give me a couple minutes, and I'll be there."

Clint made a face again. "Okay, but we gotta figure out — you gotta at least lock the door if you're gonna be in here kissing!"

"We're not doing anything," K laughed. "And we weren't even kissing until just now."

"Uh-huh, okay," Clint said, shaking his head and obviously not believing a word of it.

"Oh, you just wait," K laughed. "You're gonna get it back in spades when you're a little older."

"Nuh-uh!" he sang back to her. "No way. I'm not a lady killer!"

"Nah, you'll be a lady kisser," Logan said, sitting up to stretch out.

"Awww, now he's on your side, Mom. Why'd you do that?" Clint whined, though he was obviously kidding around.

"I guess I just kissed him into submission," K deadpanned. "He had no choice."

"Not even a little bit," Logan agreed, just to watch Clint's reaction out of the corner of his eye.

Clint shook his head and stuck his tongue out. "Blech," he said, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm gonna go play with Thor. You guys can just… just come down when you're done kissing, okay?"

"We're never leaving," K called out in a drawn out monotone.

"Then I guess I live with Thor now!" Clint called back.

"Blondes unite!" she shot back. "Go smite frost rabbits or whateverthehelltheyare."

Clint giggled. "You're weird, Mom."

"You like it," she said.

"Love you too!" he called over his shoulder before he closed the door behind him, not exactly in the mood to see any more PDA from the two snuggled up ferals.

When Clint got back to the living room, Jan was already dealing out cards. "What, no Logan? No K? We might actually have shots at winning a card game!" she teased.

Clint rolled his eyes. "They're all… snuggled up and kissing and I do _not_ wanna see it," he said.

"Why not?" Thor asked. "Surely if he pleases your mother—"

Jan snorted out loud. "Oh my gosh. This is why I keep you around," she said, elbowing Thor and looking over the moon. "All this means is he was being _polite_ , right? I love this day."

Clint shook his head at Jan's antics. "Yeah, well, they still haven't gotten out of bed. Mom's all comfy and tucked in and stuff, so I dunno if they're ever gonna leave ever."

Jan smirked at that, though it was obvious she was thinking it over as she dealt out the cards. "Did your mom and Logan have the same room at the institute?"

Clint shook his head. "Nah, we had our own room."

"Huh." Jan pursed her lips as she thought it over, though it wasn't until Clint had won a round of the game that she started to smile to herself.

It made sense, after all. Steve had filled her in on how K had a lot of the same powers Logan did, and if she was like Logan and sensitive to smell… well… Jan knew that _she_ liked to steal Hank's pillow sometimes because it smelled nice and because he always looked so adorably confused when he couldn't find it where he'd left it in the middle of the night.

And if she liked stealing pillows without the enhanced senses...

Jan grinned to herself. Oh yes. This day was getting better and better. Now all she had to do was stay in the good graces and she could totally design the wedding attire.

It wasn't too long before Logan and K finally came out of the room, coffee cups in hand and headed to get more.

"You guys gonna play?" Clint called out to them as they passed.

"Only if you want to lose," Logan replied.

"We can play something else like Yahtzee," Clint said. "We don't gotta play cards."

"Doesn't matter," Logan said. "Still gonna lose."

"Nuh-uh. Yahtzee is just luck, okay?" Clint insisted.

"Don't matter," Logan teased. "Still. Gonna. Lose."

"You're wrong, and now you gotta prove it," Clint shot back.

"No, don't do that," Steve said as he stepped into the room with printouts in front of him. "He cheats. It's not a fair game."

Clint turned toward Logan and stuck his finger out. "Cheating's not winning. Cheating's cheating. You gotta win fair."

"That's just Cap bein' a sore loser," Logan said as he picked up his mug for a drink of coffee. "I don't cheat at Yahtzee."

"That makes one game," Steve said, shaking his head.

"Listen," Logan said, pointing a finger Steve's way. "Only game I ever _definitely_ cheated on was that one poker game with Fury and Carol — and _everyone_ was cheatin' but you."

"That's 'cause he's Captain America. Duh," Clint said.

"That's cuz he wore short sleeves," Logan said. "He cheats just as bad as anyone you ever saw."

"Well, you can't cheat at Yahtzee, so come _onnnn_ ," Clint said.

Logan chuckled as he and K made their way over. "Come on, Cap — only game you got half a prayer of winnin'."

Steve looked from his printouts to the look on Clint's face and let out a breath. "Alright," he said.

Clint beamed at the group of them before he climbed over Thor to go to the games closet — which had doubled in size since Clint and K had moved in — and pull out Yahtzee. Jan insisted on teaching Clint how to let a girl blow on his dice to give him luck, which he thought was silly but let her do it anyway.

And to Clint's surprise, he actually did really well, too — though Thor ended up winning after getting two Yahtzees, which pretty much shot his score up too high to catch up to. But it was worth it to come in second just to see how _thrilled_ Thor was with the game and how much fun he had…

And to stick his tongue out at Logan and clearly sing out, "Toldja!"

"Can't play games with gods," Logan laughed.

"I like to!" Clint giggled. "Thor's real fun."

"Until he loses," Steve said, laughing along with them.

"Nuh-uh. I beat him in Old Maid, like, three times in a row!"

"You didn't have any money on it, totally different," Logan said.

Thor simply shook his head as he laughed. "Aye, but Clint is such an avid opponent. He will make a fine warrior one day."

"Hear that, Mom?" Clint said with a grin.

"Easy buddy," K said. "I thought you were going to be an archery-ologist."

"Uh-huh, like Indiana Jones!" Clint said. "So I'm gonna fight bad guys too!"

"With arrows."

"Yeah, like that!" he agreed. "And I'm gonna learn tricks with a bullwhip too, like you said."

"Yep, if we can get up to the cottage, that's a winter thing."

Clint grinned up at Thor. "See? I'm learning lots of weapons."

"Aye," Thor agreed, smiling even wider. "And you have such passion for your art — that will aid you will in battle."

"Mom, I wanna be an Avenger archeologist archer!" Clint said, turning to K with wide eyes.

"Do you need fur underwear to join up with Thor?" K asked straight-faced.

Jan snorted. "And a funny helmet?" she asked.

Clint rolled his eyes. "No, you guys don't got fur…" He looked around the group. " _Do_ you got fur underwear?"

K leaned forward. "Have you checked?"

"No! I don't wanna!" Clint said, looking mortified.

"Toasty buns, my darling boy. Toasty buns."

Clint shook his head. "I don't wanna wear that stuff!"

Jan was laughing too hard to reassure Clint, but Steve managed to keep it together enough to promise Clint, "You don't have to. That's not part of being an Avenger, Clint, I promise."

K caught Clint's gaze and carefully signed out _Star Spangled Panties_ and tipped her head toward Steve meaningfully.

But at that, Clint just started to giggle, and then he started laughing even harder when Steve gave K a look and Thor started laughing as well.

"Can we please keep them?" Jan managed to gasp out. "This is the most fun we've had at the tower in _ages_!"

"He wanted to head back to school when it gets rolling," Steve said, shaking his head at them.

Clint nodded. "Yeah, I like my teachers. I've never liked school before, so I wanna stay there."

"Wait until you're old enough for Logan's history class," Steve said.

"That's what Jubilee said," Clint said, nodding seriously. "She said it was gonna be my favorite class, but I dunno. I really like math with Miss Jean."

"Like it while you can," Logan said. "Scott teaches math for the older kids."

Clint frowned for a second and then let out a sigh. "Okay," he said. "But I'm still real good at it."

"What about your mom?" Steve asked. "Is she going to start teaching too?"

"Only if they need someone to teach sarcasm," K replied. "I don't have any skills."

"Nuh-uh!" Clint insisted. "You taught me and Barney all about knives and archery and stuff — and you rode an elephant and you know about horses and you can do all sorts of tricks better than any rodeo guys!"

"Yeah, but bull riding and bronc busting aren't really class material," K said.

"No, but I bet you could teach riding," Jan said. "I had a few friends in some riding classes when I was in school."

K shrugged one shoulder up. "It's been a long time since I taught riding lessons."

"I bet you could," Clint said, his eyes wide. "You're real good at teaching. You showed me and Barney all sorts of stuff!"

"Sounds like you have an advocate," Steve said with a smirk.

"I also had the boys more or less isolated with nothing to do _but_ get good," K pointed out.

"Yeah, but it was fun!" Clint insisted.

"It'd depend a lot on what was available," she said. "Can't use just any horse for lessons."

"It can be arranged," Logan said. "If you want to do it."

When K frowned a bit, Clint bumped her shoulder. "It's okay, Mom. You got lotsa time to think about it, 'cause we're living here right now."

"Yeah, I just ... " she let out a breath. "I can't even think about that until we get things figured out with Barney."

Clint bit his lip and then nodded. "Okay, yeah. Barney comes first."

"We'll figure it out," she said, nodding to herself.

"And in the meantime," Jan said with a smile, "we can have fun here, right? What do you want to do next?"

"Ummm… I dunno?"

"Shaving cream fight," K said perfectly seriously.

Clint beamed and pointed at K. "That! I wanna do that!"

"Then Twister when everyone is shaving cream-ed," she said.

"I'll get the Twister!" Clint all but sang out as he rushed to do just that, leaving half the adults laughing, especially when K followed through to go get the shaving cream as well.


	3. What Dragged the Cat In

**Quick note: I'm volunteering at a youth camp for my church, so I will be gone for a little while, and therefore, I won't be updating. CC, however, has been prepping her universes for constant fill of updates while I'm gone, so there will be much story-ing anyway. But this one will be quiet for a while, seeing as I'll be technology-less and surrounded by teenagers :P**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: What Dragged the Cat In**

* * *

It was such a nice day out that it was hard for Clint not to want to go outside, though he was still a little nervous about it. He knew that they were behind a gate and all that, but it wasn't until Tony suggested the roof that Clint actually did go and enjoy the summer sunshine.

Clint had always felt safer when he was higher up. Climbing trees or even a couple times climbing drainpipes — no one looked up, especially not for little kids.

Plus, it was really, really cool up there. He could see everything for what felt like miles around, and nobody would even know he was up on top of the tower. He probably looked like a little speck if anyone was even looking up that way.

He hadn't brought Sicem up, of course, though Thor had delighted in taking the dog out into the yard when he needed to get _out_. It was kind of surreal watching the big, huge god of thunder playing around with a little yellow dog, but Clint was really starting to like Thor. Thor was just… _fun_ , and he knew sign language, too, which seemed to drive Tony nuts — so Clint did it even more.

But it was also kinda nice to get away from the crowd that lived in the tower and to be out on the roof by himself for some peace and quiet. He had brought up a rope that he'd gotten out of a supply closet, too, and for a long time, he just played pretend on the roof, swinging the rope around in the best imitation of Indiana Jones that he could muster.

It wasn't exactly a bullwhip, but it was the best he had on hand.

In his game, he had just managed to rescue the Holy Grail from the Red Skull's clutches when there was a loud, echoing _boom_ that shook the air all around him.

Surprised, Clint nearly fell backwards as he looked around. That had sounded like thunder, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky…

And then Clint grinned, realizing what must have happened, and he abandoned his game to rush back into the tower and down the stairs. He wanted to know who Thor was fighting, and since he hadn't been able to see from the roof, maybe Steve or Jan could tell him what was going on.

Tony was the first one he saw, though, and he tried to run to catch up with Tony's much taller strides. "Wha- what's going on?" he panted.

"Your guess is as good as mine at this point, kid," Tony told him. "Someone crossed our Asgardian, apparently."

"Someone stupid," Clint said.

"Yeah, that's a given," Tony agreed as the two of them got in the elevator to go investigate.

When they got downstairs, the other Avengers were there, too, and Clint ran over to K with wide eyes. _Something made Thor mad,_ he signed to her.

She tipped her head to the side and shrugged before she made her way to stand next to him. "What do you think happened, kiddo?"

"I think it was the Red Skull," Clint said, thinking of the game he'd been playing. "I think he tried to get to Cap and Thor fried 'im!"

"If it was him, he totally was asking for it," K agreed.

Clint nodded to himself, but the group didn't have to wait in suspense for much longer before Thor arrived — dragging in a very fried-looking Sabretooth, who was completely down and out for the count. And the scent of burning hair and flesh still clung to him.

K made a face as she pulled Clint back a few steps, even pushing him behind her as Thor and Tony got to work dragging him off to parts unknown. "Well, that didn't take long."

"Where did — okay, so I gotta know what happened," Jan said, her eyes wide as she all but hovered near Thor.

The god of thunder simply shrugged. "He was searching the perimeter to find a way inside. He found his way in, but I doubt it was the way he thought he would take," he said, with an unmistakable twinkle of trouble in his gaze.

" _Vacker_ ," K said, shaking her head slowly.

Thor grinned her way. "I told you, did I not? This ogre is naught before the might of Thor."

She chuckled at that and zipped over just to make a quick move to kiss his cheek. "Just beautiful."

Thor let out a hearty laugh. "It was my pleasure," he promised before he went back to helping Tony make sure Sabretooth was secure, leaving the rest of the group to stare after where they'd disappeared.

Still, Steve was frowning slightly. "I don't like how close he was to the tower," he said. "How did he know you were here? Nightcrawler took you here directly."

K let out a breath and tuned to face him. "Captain Rogers, he's one of the best trackers in the world, and contrary to popular belief, the guy's smart." She paused and amended herself. "Not … Stark smart, but … he's no slouch."

"Yeah, but I thought the whole point was to hide you two away," Jan pointed out. "I mean, I'm not complaining — I love having you guys around. But Cap has a point."

K thought it over for a moment, frowning at where they'd dragged Creed away. "He may have followed Logan."

"He knows Logan's part of the team," Steve said. "It's not unusual for Logan to come here."

"Yeah," K said. "But if he smells like me …"

"Oooh, right," Jan said, her eyes wide. "I didn't think about that. I mean, I did, but not the ramifications — I mean, not like that."

"What did you think?" K asked, turning her way.

"Oh, just happy my friend is happy, that's all," Jan said brightly. "I wasn't thinking about the diabolical ways that could be used against him!"

"Well, that's like … all that guy does," K said.

"Then I'm glad we caught him," Steve said. He turned toward K fully. "I'd still like to ask you to stay here, at least until we can be sure the department won't come running to the front gates of the institute the moment you go back. Just because Sabretooth is down doesn't mean the other threat isn't hanging over yours heads, and they've already proven that they will come to the school."

"Yeah, they just … would fly over the gates," she said, keeping a straight expression on her face.

Steve shook his head at that. "You know what I mean," he said. "And it's a valid concern, considering the 'present' he left you last time."

"Yeah, please don't refer to it that way. I know there are jokes about it, but it's just ... " She shook her head lightly. "I don't creep easily, but that was creepy."

Steve let out a breath and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Tony build that cell downstairs based on everything Logan told him about the guy. He had _Bruce Banner_ look it over. Whatever happened before… you're safe now. At least from him."

"How solid are Stark's failsafes?" K asked. "Or would you mind terribly if I tested it out?"

"If it'll make you feel better," Steve said, "I wouldn't mind. But Tony has been working on this day and night. It's a solid holding cell, K."

She considered him for a long moment. "Have you ever known someone to break into the helicarrier?"

"Not to my knowledge, no, why?"

She smirked at him and nodded slowly before she waved at him. "Yes, you do."

"No way," Jan said, her eyes wide, at the same time Clint started giggling and saying, "That's so cool."

"Ask Fury about unsigned notes on his desk," she said. "It was a Chanel lipstick."

"Okay, you _have_ to tell me that story," Jan said, grinning even wider.

K nodded at her but turned her attention back to Steve. "If it can be done, I can tell you about it."

Steve gestured for her to lead the way. "I'd feel better knowing that cell is fully tested. I don't want him slipping out of here like he did SHIELD's holding cell. Not with you both here."

"I would test that for you if he wasn't in it," K said, smiling tightly. "But in the meantime, I can test Stark's security — to see if his early warning systems work on a fine scale."

"I'll tell Tony to warm up his A game for you," Steve said.

K smirked at that and turned to Jan. "I'll need a bodysuit…"

"Oh, I am so on it," Jan promised, grinning widely. "You'll look fabulous."

"I have no doubt," K agreed before she turned back to Steve. "You know I'll do whatever I can to make sure he stays where he belongs, right? I'm not going to coast."

Steve nodded seriously. "And you know we're doing everything we can to make sure no one touches you or your son, right?"

She nodded. "I just want to help with that," K said. "Offer insight where I can."

"Then lead the way," Steve said. "Let's see what we can do to tighten security around here."

* * *

Clint had managed to talk his way into watching some of the security testing as Tony more or less put K through the paces of the Tower security, but he could hear Steve questioning again whether or not this had been a good idea when Tony kept coming up with increasingly creative swear word combinations for every minute that K evaded capture.

But every time Steve suggested to Clint that they could do something else — play a game or whatever he could think of — Clint wasn't going anywhere. Even if he hadn't been enjoying himself watching Tony get frustrated, the truth was that he _needed_ to know that his mom had tested out the security, because there was a big, blond terror getting locked up downstairs, and Clint did _not_ want that guy to get loose.

Plus, Clint always enjoyed the chance to get other people to see how amazing his mom was. He liked to brag on her, and this was a great opportunity to do so.

Still, Clint was a little torn. So far, his mom had been able to slip through a lot of what Tony had set up, and while he was glad for the chance to brag on his mom, the whole point was to test the systems… and Clint didn't like the idea that they couldn't stop his mom or Sabretooth.

Clint was starting to shift uncomfortably and wondering where he and his mom would go _this_ time if the tower wasn't good enough when Tony let out a satisfied-sounding, "gotcha," followed by yet another string of words that Clint couldn't help but giggle over.

"What did she trip?" Steve asked, genuinely curious as he leaned forward.

"Last-ditch failsafe in the _lab._ " Tony was already on his feet and headed that way. "She should _not_ have been able to get that far."

"That was the point - we need to know where we can beef security up," Steve pointed out, though by then, they were already moving to go get K.

When Tony got to where K'd been caught, he stopped dead in his tracks and let out a disbelieving noise as he threw his arms up. She was hanging upside down — nearly in the center of the room — with one arm free, which happened to be holding Tony's coffee mug.

"At least you left me coffee," K said with a little smirk. "Hi."

"Okay, breaking into my lab is one thing — but stealing my coffee on top of that?"

"Fight me for it, big boy," she shot back, which just had Clint giggling hard before she took a sip of it — upside down.

Tony took a few steps toward her, and she met his glare with a more serious look. "The fact is, I could get out of this, but I was trying to keep it to what Creed could manage, and that means his claws couldn't get out of this. Mine can. So don't get cocky."

Tony shook his head at her. "Give me back my coffee."

"Try and take it, you'll need medical intervention. My coffee. I stole it; it's mine now."

For just a second, Tony looked irritated — before he smirked at her. "I wasn't aware coffee-stealing was something I had to guard against for Sabretooth attacks."

"Well now you know," she said in an almost snooty tone. "But that's not to stop Sabretooth attacks. You should still guard against it, though."

Tony shook his head as Steve stepped forward, smirking at the exchange. "Alright, you'll need to take us through how you got past some of those defenses so we can fix it," he said. "Sabretooth is still down for the count, but when he wakes up, I'd prefer it if we were as prepared as we can be."

"Sure," K said before she offered Steve the mug. "Hold my coffee, would you?"

"How come _he_ gets the coffee back?" Tony complained.

"Because he'll give it back once I get down," K said as Steve took the mug, and a moment later, she popped a claw and cut herself loose. She even managed to land in a crouch before she stood up and took the mug back. "Thank you. Where do you want to sit down and take notes?"

"We have a meeting room set aside already," Steve said. "And it's further from the cell block than the others."

"I'd be more worried about you guys if he got loose," K said. "I have an exit strategy for Clint and me for emergencies."

"What's that?" Clint asked, his eyes wide.

She turned his way, smirking crookedly, with her eyes dancing with trouble. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Ooh, right, so I can be awesome and get past everything and no one knows how," Clint said, nodding seriously.

"Mmmhmm," K said, nodding. "And … so that someone doesn't screw it up by setting traps up for you." She looked Tony's way with one eyebrow arched. "At least … any more than what's there already."

Tony put a hand over his heart. "I'm offended that you think I would set traps for a _seven-year-old_."

"They're not for a seven year old," she said, shaking her head. "But that doesn't mean he can't stumble into them." She paused and narrowed her eyes in thought. "Unless … can you set up triggers that will go off for certain masses? Instead of just … something going past it. Like … anything under around a hundred pounds wouldn't touch it .."

Tony nodded. "Weighted triggers — yeah, I can definitely do that. Easy peasy."

"I'm more concerned with size over weight," K said. "I'd trigger a lot of them by weight but not size. Clearly … big and ugly would hit all of them. But if we're making a quick escape, I'd rather not make it easier on him by getting myself caught."

"I'll work something up," Tony said. "It's been a while since I've had a good project, and updating the security _and_ coming up with height- and weight-specific triggers should be a good stretch."

"If you're looking for projects, I might be able to get you thinking," K said as they made their way into the meeting room. She headed over to the coffee maker and topped off the mug she'd stolen from Tony before she took a seat next to him where she could easily show him on his blueprints where the trouble started up.

She made herself right at home, and even went so far as to pick up a red pencil to mark where she thought he could add something with more punch, working around Tony to get to where she wanted to be as she told him what worked, what didn't, and gave suggestions to hide the triggers better as well as a few more ideas on improvements that Tony latched onto with both hands.

The whole time, Clint watched with wide eyes, completely fascinated by the whole thing and trying to see for himself what all his mom had been able to do. Watching her go over the blueprints with Tony, he could sort of see the logic of her path, too, and he was nodding along by the time K was done.

"That's so cool," he breathed out to her.

"Not bad for old intel," K said.

Clint grinned up at her and then tugged on her sleeve to get her to bend down to his level so he had her full attention. _I want to learn how to do that,_ he signed to her carefully.

 _I'll teach you._ K smirked at him and then kissed his forehead. "I think we can work with this. If … you're not afraid of the dark or small spaces."

Clint shook his head. "Nuh-uh. I'm not scared of nothing," he promised, then paused. "Well… except big bad guys with claws, but I think that's an okay thing to be scared of."

"It absolutely is," K agreed before she stood up straight again and turned toward Tony and Steve. "If you boys don't need me for anything else, I think … I should go back and change."

Tony waved her off. "Go ahead. I'll let you know if I want to pick your brain."

With that, she winked Cap's way and took off with Clint — and not only her coffee mug that she'd stolen from the lab but the one Tony had been using in the meeting room too, just to see how long it would take to get a rise out of him.

"Not yours!" Tony called out after her.

"Finders keepers!" she called back. "Poor coffee security!"

Clint couldn't stop giggling as he kept up with K. "You're gonna own all his coffee cups by next Tuesday!"

"It's hilarious," she said. "And he won't try to get it back, so … I'll just keep picking at him."

"Well, even if he's kinda stupid sometimes, he's real smart not to mess with you," Clint pointed out.

"Which is good to see," K said. "But … before I tell you my big plan, I think I need to get Jan to find me a purple paint pen."

"What for?" Clint asked, his head tipped to the side and his nose scrunched up.

She took his hand and found a quiet spot to crouch down and level with him. "I realized we have a way for you to hide — and me too, if we're smart about it. Even if every single one of Tony's defenses and systems fail, we have a way to hide. It might not do the Avengers any good — most of them are too big — but … you and me? This place will work fine."

"A hiding spot just for little people?"

She nodded with a growing smile. "And I want the pen so I can mark your paths."

"And it's gotta be purple because it's for me," Clint surmised, starting to smile and nod. "Makes sense!"

"Exactly," she said, nodding her head still. "I'll keep this bodysuit … Tony will probably want me to re-test his system when he gets done with it anyhow. And I'll use it when I map out your paths."

The two of them made their way back to the living area for the Avengers, and when they got there, Jan was in a bit of a down mood, though she perked right up when she saw them. "How did it go?" she asked, genuinely interested and hoping all was well.

"I gave Tony some homework," K said. "Stole his coffee. Twice. That'll hopefully motivate him. But … I need to ask you a favor." She looked over at Clint with a smirk. "I need a couple of purple paint pens ... a half dozen pen flashlights … and a roll of duct tape."

"O...kay. That is a weirdly specific shopping list," Jan said.

"I like weirdly specific, and it's for Clint's safety, so …" She stopped and snapped her fingers. "Oooh … and a few containers of pepper spray. Just in case."

"That part I do understand," Jan said with a small smirk. "Sure, I can get my hands on all of that. The purple paint pens I'll have to dash out to get, but hey, shopping trip." She smiled at the two of them. "Gotta be purple for Clint, right?"

"Oh, also … can you get a single white coffee cup that I can draw on … For Tony."

"I can, and I will, but I need to know the story behind that one," Jan said. "It sounds entertaining."

"I broke into his lab and stole his coffee," K said. "Then after I got out of his trap and showed him what to fix … I stole his new coffee. I'm going to keep taking his cups until the only one left is the one we finish drawing on for him." She grinned at her. "Wanna help?"

"Um, _yes_ ," Jan said, grinning delightedly. "Of course!" She bounced on her toes slightly and then headed for the door. "This is gonna be so fun."

"Maybe some rhinestones for that one too," K said… in colors he would like."

"Oh yes, I like you," Jan giggled. "Please stay forever!" She clapped her hands together. "Let's get started."


	4. The Walls Have Little Ears

**Notes: Yay, I'm back! While I was gone, CC went on a spree with her 'Age of Magneto' stuff and you should so read it ;) Also, speaking of CC - hope you enjoy this one, m'dear. There is more Clint playing pretend and being sneaky and just general tomfoolery :P**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: The Walls Have Little Ears**

* * *

Clint was still grinning to himself as he scooted forward, using the flats of his arms to pull himself along the path of the air ducts, a little paper clutched in his hand with all of the best pathways marked in purple pen.

This was, he was pretty sure, the best idea his mom had had in a long string of best ideas. Because not only was Sabretooth _way_ too big to fit into the vents and try to get to him but K had also outlined the paths that would lead to different Avengers' rooms. So if the worst happened and Sabretooth did somehow manage to get out… all he had to do was follow the purple lines to the room marked with a big "THOR" so he could hide with the thunder god.

Clint felt safest with his mom, obviously — _except_ when it came to Sabretooth. Then, he wanted Logan around. And if he couldn't find Logan, Thor was a good substitute. After all, those were the only two people that he knew without a doubt could actually take Sabretooth down.

He was glad his mom seemed to know that without him having to say anything, too, because he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. He really did like hanging out with the Avengers — all of them! Wasp was his favorite besides Thor, because she liked to play with him and didn't try to treat him like he was a baby, especially since she knew that he was good at knives and stuff. And Captain America didn't mind that Clint asked him a million stories about what it was like to fight in the war and stuff.

So he didn't want the rest of the Avengers to know that he liked Thor the best. Just like he didn't want his teachers at Mr. Professor Xavier's school to know that Storm was his favorite, because Jean tried a lot too, and Kurt _was_ really fun to learn swords with.

K had marked where every single room was, and she had made sure to tell him that this was only for emergencies, but she had given him that look where he could see the laughter in her eyes and all the trouble there, and he was pretty sure that meant he wouldn't get in trouble if he did just a little bit of snooping around.

Just a little bit.

So, Clint climbed into the walls that morning and took himself on a little tour, pretending he was an Avenger and that the tower had been infiltrated by Hydra, so he had to go on a mission to rescue Captain America from the Red Skull, who had captured him.

As he imagined it, the bad guys had Captain America in the kitchen — because that's where the knives were easily accessible — and Clint had to go rescue him. And when he pulled off his daring do, then he'd get to have some ice cream — because you _always_ have ice cream when you beat a bad guy.

Clint knew that was kinda sorta cheating, because he was only fighting Hydra for _pretend_ , but he also really wanted ice cream.

K had even made sure to mark the best paths for Clint, so he knew how to get to the big places, like the living room or the kitchen or Tony's labs, which K said were really well protected, so if he couldn't find Thor, then he could hide there too. The notes were even sorta kinda written in code, just for Clint. He was pretty sure that nobody else would be able to understand the arrows that led to "your favorite dogsitter" and "the handsome one" — which were Steve and Thor, but in K-speak.

There was a sign that just had a smiley face with wings, but then Tony was just "Mister Eye Holes," complete with a glittery bearded smiley face. That one was probably Clint's favorite.

But then there was "this way to pizza," so he knew he was going the right way toward the kitchen in his ongoing game, and he pulled himself forward a little bit farther down the ducts.

He had to be careful when he crawled out of the ducts — not just because K didn't want anyone else to know about his secret hideaways but because in his game, he wanted to get the element of surprise and sneak up behind the Hydra bad guys so that he could get Captain America free and give him his shield.

He slid out of the ductwork with a smile and a somersault that he wished Kurt could have seen. He probably would have been proud of that somersault. But Clint only ever saw Logan from the other team, which was really too bad, because he missed his friends.

But he was clearly sneaky enough that Jan and Tony hadn't noticed him somersault into the room, and Clint grinned to himself, darting behind the island so that he could listen in. He wanted to see how long it would take for anyone to notice that he was there — and to see if he could be as sneaky as his mom.

"They're still curled up together, Tony," Jan was saying as Clint snuck up on them. "Every time he comes to the tower, I swear, K just… parks on him."

"Lucky man," Tony said, which had Clint wrinkling his nose and shaking his head. Tony, he had decided, was an idiot — even if he did have way cool armor.

Jan reached over to shove Tony in the arm. "Seriously, though," she said. "I'm telling you — if Logan can just … if he can take two seconds to _think_ and to see how good he has it? I _will_ be designing a wedding dress for her."

"Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you?" Tony asked, and Clint suddenly found himself mentally apologizing for ever thinking Tony was stupid when clearly Jan was so wrong.

"No, I am _not_ ," Jan insisted. "You know Logan — you know how he gets when he knows something's _right_."

Tony paused for a long moment, clearly thinking over her argument, before he nodded slowly. "You know… you're not wrong."

"Obviously," Jan said, sounding perfectly insulted that he could ever think she was anything but right. "You should know this by now!"

Tony chuckled. "Alright, but here's the deal: when this happens, I have plenty of contacts to make it a _real_ party."

Jan let out a delighted sort of sound before she threw her arms around Tony in a hug. "Aww, I knew I could count on you!" she gushed.

"Hey, what are friends for if not planning each other's weddings, apparently?" Tony laughed. "Which reminds me, Jan. How long have you and Hank been circling?"

"Oh. Well. Hank… he's distracted with—"

"He's always distracted," Tony said, shaking his head. "If I had a girl like you hanging on me every second of every day, I would _not_ be distracted."

Jan shook her head and then laughed as she leaned over and punched Tony's arm. "You're too sweet — you know that?"

"Really? All of my good qualities to choose from and you go with 'sweet'?"

"Well, it's true!"

"You could have gone with charming… or handsome… or both! Both would have been great too!"

"Tony, shut up. We were having a moment."

Tony just laughed. "Right. Bonding over someone else's wedding. That isn't even on the horizon yet. Because you're banking on Wolverine getting tired of curling up with a gorgeous girl and wanting to change that up. Smart."

Jan shoved Tony. "Oh come on," she said. "Even if that was the case, you can't think he'd do that when there's a little boy involved!"

"Yeah, because a kid being involved really speeds things along."

"Tony! I thought you were on my side!"

Tony started laughing even harder at that. "Of course, right, what was I thinking? You absolutely need to design a dress. Clearly. And I'm one hundred percent behind you."

"If I didn't know that you and I would plan the _best_ party, I'd totally cut you out just for being a pain in my backside," Jan told him.

"Good thing I'm irresistible, then," Tony teased.

"You're something, alright," Jan laughed.

The two of them kept right on teasing each other back and forth as they eventually slipped out of the kitchen — and not once did they ever notice that Clint was there listening in.

Of course, that wasn't all entirely down to Clint being sneaky by that point. He had more or less frozen when he heard what the conversation was about, and he was having a hard time getting his body to respond to any of his commands. He did _not_ want to have to share his mom, and he couldn't believe Jan would _do_ this to him. He thought that she was his friend! But instead, she just wanted to dress him and his mom up like dolls.

He let out a little noise and picked himself up, forgetting about his game of pretend entirely as he headed back to Logan's room — where he knew Jan was right and his mom was curled up with Logan.

Clint made a face and then nodded to himself, climbing up the side of the bed to sit on his mom's other side and pull on her arm. "Come _on_ ," he whined. "You've been here forever and I wanna play with you!"

"Okay," she said before she stole a quick kiss from Logan, then made a point to sit up and stretch out. "What did you want to do?"

Clint paused — he hadn't actually thought this part out. He just didn't want her to be curled up with Logan anymore. "Umm." He bit his lip. "I ..."

"Want to screw with Tony?"

"Yeah," he said, quickly latching onto that option. "Uh-huh. Let's do that, please."

"I thought we could put glitter in the registers of his car," K said. "Then when he turns on the air — he'll glitter himself."

Clint started to giggle despite himself. "Oooh, I like that!"

K smirked and leaned over to give Logan a kiss before she slid out of bed, and Clint couldn't help but grin triumphantly. He stopped short of actually looking like he was gloating, though, because he was pretty sure he wasn't _supposed_ to do that, and he was with the Avengers. And he wanted to _be_ an Avenger.

So, he tried very, very hard to be diplomatic.

"My… um… my mom likes you a lot," Clint said when K slipped off to change, though Logan looked like he was perfectly comfortable where he was.

"Feelin's mutual," Logan replied as he settled in.

Clint nodded, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "And… and um… I guess you're okay," he said slowly. "But… she's my mom."

"I won't argue it," Logan said, slowly shaking his head.

"Yeah, I just… I just … don't forget I saw her first," Clint muttered, feeling his face flush red.

"Couldn't forget that. Tell you what — I'll bring your bow with me next time," Logan said.

Clint smiled despite himself. "Yeah, okay," he said. "That would be fun."

Logan nodded and got up as K came out. "Pretty sure Jan'd supply the glitter if you need another accomplice. I should probably get back to work."

"No, that's… that's okay," Clint said, biting his lip. "Jan doesn't gotta — she's doing other stuff."

"Just a suggestion," Logan said.

"Yeah, well, she and Tony are…"

"Idiots."

"Uh-huh," Clint said, nodding fervently.

"Not a shock to me," Logan said. "Just ignore 'em. That's for the best."

"Yeah. Well. They're just… saying stuff," Clint said, shifting a little more before he glanced up at K. "Can we just… let's glitter bomb him."

"You wanna glitter bomb Jan too?" K asked. "If she's getting to you, it's probably time to get her out of her bubble of protection."

"Okay, yeah," Clint said, starting to grin a little more. "She's just being pushy."

"Don't let her push you," Logan said. "Give that woman an inch, and she'll railroad you."

"She's not pushing _me_ ," Clint said. "She wants to push _Mom_.'

"Oh," Logan said, turning toward K with a smirk. "Guess it's her funeral."

"So true," K agreed before she put her arm across Clint's shoulders. "Don't worry about it. Whatever she's pushing for, the answer is no."

"Okay, good," Clint said, relaxing substantially before he tugged on her arm. "C'mon, Mom. Let's go."

The two of them headed off, though K didn't even try to take time for a quick kiss with how insistent Clint was to get _moving_. She waited until they had a shoebox worth of glitter and were headed to the parking area where the Avengers all stashed their vehicles before she had to ask. "So, my little spy, what is it you overheard that has you so upset?"

Clint bit his lip and shifted guiltily. "I … I was real sneaky, Mom. They didn't even know I was there!" he said, trying to shift to something he _did_ want to talk about.

"I'm sure," she agreed. "But I need to know what these people are up to. So ... you can just tell me, or you can find me in the ventilation system one of these days eavesdropping for myself."

Clint took a deep breath and let it out before he glanced up at K with one eye shut. "D'youwannagetmarried?" he asked in a breath faster than he'd actually meant to.

"You're a little young for me, son." K couldn't help but smirk. "And also … I love you too. No."

Clint rolled his eyes. "I wasn't asking about _me_."

"Where is this coming from? Is this what Jan's worked up about?"

Clint nodded quietly. "She says… she says … She says Logan really likes you and that … I dunno." He scuffed the ground with the toe of his shoe. "It's stupid."

"It is. But it's not _you_ being stupid. It's her," K said, shaking her head lightly. "The subject hasn't come up, and I can't speak for him, but I'm not there."

"But you really like him," Clint pointed out. "You're together _all_ the time!"

"Want me to dump him?"

Clint froze for a second and then shook his head. "No… that's not… really fair," he said finally.

"I've been relaxing," K admitted. "But … he's headed out on some kind of … thing in Japan soon. So he won't be around for a while, okay?"

"Oh, okay," Clint said, trying not to look too happy about it. "That's… okay."

"Look at it more like … getting time in while I can. Then, we'll have nothing to do but pick on people for a while."

"I do like picking on people," Clint said with a crooked sort of smile.

K nodded and then glanced around the garage, frowning slightly. "Alright. I know we came down here to hit Tony, but … I think Jan actually pulls rank here if that's how she's pushing." She pointed to a car parked in the far corner. "That one."

Clint glanced up at K, still smiling. "You sure? I know you like to hit Tony…"

"Oh, we'll get him too," she promised. "But if we happen to get caught … I'd rather get caught on his car and let them think that's _all_ I was doing."

"You're real smart, you know that?" Clint said, giggling delightedly.

"When it comes to this stuff? Yeah. I know," she agreed, then they headed over to get started as K explained why exactly this was such a devious plan. "They step in … all hot and sweaty or just cleaned up from a mission … and as soon as they start up the car — _poof_. Glitter sticks. To everything." She was dumping yellow and black glitter into the vents as fast as Clint could hand the bottles to her. "And all that's left is to make sure that the blower is turned all the way up before we leave it alone."

Clint was still giggling as he helped K. "How come you know about stuff like glitter and also stuff like spying? You know, like…. _everything."_

"I've been around a long time. You get bored if you sit still for too long, and there are always new and exciting things to do to prank people," K said, making a few little adjustments to be sure the vents were pointed to the driver seat.

"D'you think I'm gonna get to be as cool as you?" Clint asked.

"Already a done deal," she said.

"You really think so?" Clint asked, his eyes wide. "D'you think I could be an Avenger? Because I wanna be. I'm trying real hard to be nice and stuff."

"I think you can, if you want to be," she said. "You're smart enough, and clever enough … by the time you're fifteen, you'll be able to fight any one of them."

"Not Captain America," Clint said, shaking his head.

"Just for that, we're gonna hit his car, too," K said. "And yes. You will be able to if you want to. Fight smarter, not harder."

Clint shook his head again. "I don't wanna fight Captain America. I _like_ Captain America!"

"I like him too, but I wouldn't turn down a spar."

"Oh, well… that's different," Clint said, shaking his head. "That's just messing around."

"No, it's learning. And testing yourself. Just because you fight doesn't mean it has to be until someone is knocked out or … worse."

"Yeah, I don't wanna hurt anybody," Clint agreed seriously. "I just wanna _help_ people and — and fight bad guys."

She headed over to the Jeep, though she frowned when she saw the top was off — which would make the blower trick harder to achieve. "I know. You're a good boy. Now … hand me the red and blue … and silver … and probably the lid to that box."

Clint passed her everything she'd asked for, his eyes wide and his eyebrows high. "You been planning this, huh? You got colors for everyone."

"Not really," she said. "There's green and orange and pink in there too … no plans on those. But … I'm just gonna dump this on his visor and cover it with the box. _Then_ when he puts it down, it'll dump on him."

"That's why you're so cool, Mom. You got backup plans for just about everything," Clint giggled.

"I just know how to cause trouble."

"And have fun," Clint said. He darted over to kiss her cheek. "I love you a lot, okay?"

"Love you too, handsome. Now … nail Iron Man, angel face."

Clint snorted and held up his fingers to imitate a demon instead and darted off to go find Tony's car, cackling to himself the whole way over.


	5. Who Let Jean and Jan Conspire Together?

**Chapter 5: Who Let Jean and Jan Conspire Together?**

When Jean and Storm arrived at the tower, they weren't surprised to find that Clint was outside playing with Sicem — though they _were_ surprised that the other playmate was Thor, of all people, who was currently being licked to death by the golden sitting on his chest while Clint gleefully encouraged the whole thing.

Of course, when Clint saw that the two of them had arrived, he redirected entirely and darted over to hug each of them in turn, grinning up at both of them.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" he said. "I was starting to wonder if you were gonna come say hi or if you were just gonna forget all about me!"

"How could we forget about you?" Jean said, grinning at him. "We were hoping you'd be able to come back by now!"

"Well, Thor electrocuted Sabretooth and stuck him in a prison place, but Mom says that doesn't mean the other bad guys aren't watching the school," Clint said with an open shrug. "But I wanna come back too. I miss you guys!" He grinned up at Jean. "And you're gonna have a baby and — and I don't want you to forget me just 'cause you have your _own_."

"There is no way _anyone_ could forget your sweet self," she promised. "Gossamer wings, right? That leaves an impression."

Clint giggled and nodded. "Yeah, that's where Mom says I came from, and she's always right." He pretended to preen his wings behind him and then grinned up at Storm. "What do you think? Mom says I'm a duck, but I don't think _that's_ a good Avenger name — and I wanna be an Avenger!"

"You have a little time to figure it out," Storm promised. "And I'm sure you can come up with something better than a duck."

"Especially 'cause if you shout it when you're fighting, then people duck, and that's no good," Clint pointed out.

Storm smiled at him then stepped closer to pull him into a hug. "How do you like life in the tower, my young friend?"

"It's pretty cool," Clint said. "Thor plays with me and Sicem, and Jan will always play board games even after me and Mom got her covered in glitter." He leaned forward with his eyes sparkling. "She was being pushy, and Mom said that had to stop."

"And glitter was her cure?" Ororo asked with a laugh. "Did it work?"

"Well… I dunno, because she was trying to push Mom and Logan even _more_ together, and he's in Japan, so we'll see, I guess," Clint said with a shrug.

The two X-Men shared a look, but it was Jean who had to ask: "What … was she pushing for?"

Clint rolled his eyes. "You know. Mushy stuff like — like she wants to make Mom a wedding dress and that's just — that's just not gonna happen."

"I'm not sure I've even seen your mom in a dress," Jean teased.

"She's real pretty," Clint said. "She wore one one time when we were disguising ourselves from the bad guys — and nobody at the circus even recognized her!"

"Well, now I want to see that," Jean said.

Clint shook his head at her. "That's how come I told Jan that you and her need to be friends — she likes dresses and all that stuff too."

"It sounds like I need to have a word with her _anyhow_ if she's trying to push our Wolverine into rushing off to get married," Jean said.

Clint smirked at that. "I didn't even think about _that_ part," he said. "He's an Avenger _and_ an X-Man, so — so I bet you guys gotta say it's okay, right?"

"Well, no..." Jean said.

"That's not our decision," Storm said. "He chooses his own path; we just don't like anyone pushing him."

"Well ... well, he'd be lucky to get my mom even if he was pushed," Clint said with a little sniff.

"Absolutely," Storm agreed. "But don't you think they should decide that on their own?"

"Well, I already asked Mom if she wants to get married, and she said that she doesn't wanna right now, so it doesn't matter anyway," Clint said with a shrug.

"No, it doesn't," she agreed. "Why don't you show us around?"

"Okay, yeah!" Clint grinned and grabbed Ororo's arm. "I can show you where our room is, and then I can show you the roof, 'cause you can see _forever_ from up there!"

Jean couldn't help but smile as she watched Clint lead Ororo off — but she hung back a bit herself. It was clear to her that she needed to talk with Wasp before things got out of hand, especially since she knew that with both K and Clint, being pushy was the best way to push them _away_.

Not to mention the fact that she could pick up on Clint's obvious fear without even trying — and she knew that now was not the right time for this conversation.

She reached out telepathically until she found where she could find Jan — just coming out of Hank's lab after making sure he ate food — and made her way down there with a little frown.

"If you need a hobby, I'm sure I can find you something fitting to do," Jean said to catch her attention.

Jan looked totally taken off her guard as she spun to face Jean. "I — what? I _have_ a hobby, thanks."

"Oh? So there are other interests than _wedding dresses_?"

"Um, I'm a designer," Jan said, one eyebrow quirked up.

"So … design something for someone who isn't skittish." She rested her hand on her stomach. "Or … think smaller. Maybe?"

Jan's suspicious look immediately turned into a delighted one, and she beamed at Jean. "Oooh, yes! Clint told me that you were expecting. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

"It's a girl," Jean said, smiling wider. "Her thoughts are so very clear already."

"Oh, wow, that would be so cool," Jan said. "Were you able to know before the doctor or…"

"Most of the time, it's just an impression — how she's feeling," Jean said. "But yes, I suspected strongly that it was a girl before Hank confirmed it for us."

"Ooh, I bet he turned into a teddy bear," Jan said, giggling. "Beast is _so_ not the right name for him."

"That would mean there are times when he's _not_ a teddy bear," Jean laughed.

"Good point," Jan said. She gestured for Jean to walk with her as she shrugged up one shoulder. "So… who busted me? Tony? It was Tony, wasn't it? You read his thoughts, right?"

"No, actually, it was Clint," she said. "He caught the two of you talking."

Jan visibly winced. "Oh no… is that why he wouldn't talk to me earlier this week? I thought he was just… having a grumpy morning or… something. That's why I didn't even say anything about the glitter... "

"Clint isn't ready for anything like that — and I should tell you, I don't think she is either."

"Well, why not? What's wrong with Wolverine?" Jan asked, one hand on her hip. "I happen to like our mutual teammate! A lot!"

"So do I," Jean agreed. "But … what do you know about Clint's past?"

"Well…" Jan bit her lip. "Not much besides the fact that he had a massive blonde _idiot_ kidnap him."

Jean looked over her shoulder and took a moment to make sure they were well and truly alone, but when she saw Steve looking on with interest, she switched to telepathic projection. _He came from a broken home. His father was an abusive alcoholic. And K found him running away from a foster that beat him. He has issues with men in general. The garbage with Creed just … honestly, I think it undid a lot of the good that Logan had worked out for them both._

Jan looked stunned — and upset — as she listened to Jean before she took a moment to concentrate hard to respond telepathically as well — a little less controlled than Jean was used to from her teammates, but then, there weren't any telepaths on the Avengers' roster. _I didn't know any of that,_ she admitted. _But… Logan's not like that at all!_

 _I know_ — _on both counts. But I thought you should know. Logan is working on it. If and when they move forward, you'll know about it. But I know he wants both of them on board before he even considers asking._

 _I honestly thought they were on board,_ Jan said. _I mean… Clint seems to really like Logan, and you should see how_ comfortable _K is all curled up in his bed!_

 _I have,_ Jean said, smirking. _The flirting between them was very quiet and matter-of-fact to start with. Then, it was just like … it was always like that._

Jan shook her head with a breath of a laugh. _They're so sweet together. Really! And I get that Clint has a hard time with men, but Logan … and you should see him with Thor! He's doing alright in our team full of guys, you know. I'm the only other girl here!_

 _He did well with most of the guys after he got used to them,_ Jean told her. _But it was rough at first with all of them. All. Of them._

Jan let out a long sigh. _Well… what can I do to help? Because I know you have to see it too_ — _they are_ so _meant to be._

Jean grinned at her. _Just let them come to it on their own. He's there. And he's patient._

 _There's got to be something I can do,_ Jan insisted. _I can… I can help Clint with something, right? Maybe… I don't know. Something!_

Jean simply watched her for a long moment before she gently shook her head. _Steer clear of that. He'll be okay. I'm sure of it._

Jan let out the longest, most drawn-out sigh she could before she nodded and threaded her arm through Jean's. "Okay, but, in the meantime? I can still totally design a dress _and_ design you some cute little girl clothes. It'll just… call it an investment in the future Mrs. Wolverine."

Steve coughed hard from across the room. "Excuse me?"

Jan beamed at him over her shoulder. "Awww, Steve, keep up! We're totally family planning over here. If you don't keep your eyes open, I'll appoint you minister!"

"I figured Nightcrawler would want that appointment," Steve said. "But really … what? I didn't think they were that serious."

"They're not," Jean said. "She's just … wishfully thinking."

"Wouldn't it be the _best_?" Jan insisted. "They'd be a whole family! Logan could adopt him and everything! Tiny little Wolverine-y family."

"Well," Jean said, tipping her head to the side. "She'd need the official paperwork herself."

"Wait." Jan stopped and turned Jean's way fully, her hands in front of herself. "You mean they haven't done that yet? What's the _holdup_?"

"Kind of hard to do when they're on the run."

"Well, they're not anymore. We're the _Avengers_ , for crying out — no." Jan shook her head. "No, we have to fix this. I'll make Tony do it. He knows all the right legal people and just — _how long has this been left to sit?_ "

"She's running from Weapon X, Jan," Jean said. "Not just Sabretooth."

Jan shook her head. "No, no. This is more important than some — some stupid _black ops_ group."

"It is," Jean agreed. "But we don't have all the information we need anyhow. And I'm very sure that 'K' isn't going to cut it on the paperwork."

"Well, what do you need?" Jan asked. "I can ask K about her stuff but… what do you need? Really? I will get this _done_. It'll be, like, an end-of-summer surprise or something."

"I might have done some searching into the laws from where he was from …"

"Well, what do you have? And who do I need to volunteer Cap to twist their arms if need be?" Jan asked, fluttering her eyelashes Steve's way.

"I'll send you all the information I have along with the standard paperwork we use when we pick up kids that are orphaned or … well. Thrown out."

Jan shook her head. "That just… that really happens with you guys?"

"All the time," Jean told her.

"Okay, but now I want to hit some people. Totally unrelated…"

"You wouldn't believe how quickly some people disown their kids when they find out they're mutants. Or the number of people that will turn them in or even … last spring, we had one whose family locked the doors and wouldn't let them in while a mob came after her."

Jan blinked at Jean before she let out a noise that clearly said what she thought of that. "Oooh, that… that is _evil_ ," she said, her face scrunched up and her hands clenched.

Jean shrugged. "That's the reality of the world we live in, Wasp."

"Well, it's wrong," Jan said. "And if I'd been there… I'd have blown in the door and given them a piece of my mind!"

"Then you're probably on the wrong team," Jean said. "That happens — or things like it — all the time. Sometimes a few times a week." She tipped her head to the side. "Why do you think Scott is so serious all the time?"

"I thought he was just like that?" Jan said, one eye closed and her shoulder shrugged up.

"He and Clint bonded over shared experiences," Jean said quietly.

Jan's eyebrows shot up. "What… _really_?" She tipped her head. "I mean, I guess that explains a few things but… is it okay if I just randomly hug your man; is that allowed?"

"Oh, please do," Jean giggled. "He won't know what to do with that, and I'll get the best mental projection of 'um, Jean …what?' that you can ever imagine."

"Oh good, then I'm doing that for sure," Jan said, grinning even wider. "Besides, you'll be seeing plenty of me once Clint goes back to you guys for the school year section of our time share," she teased.

"Is it an official timeshare now?" Jean asked. "Do they know this? How does Christmas work out?"

"Oh, we're not telling them, or they'll mess it up on purpose," Jan said seriously. "No, no. This is just between our teams. If he wants to go to your school, then we _so_ need to have him for the summers, because Thor would go through withdrawals! You don't want to make the thunder god sad, right?" She gave Jean her best, most dramatic pout to complete the picture.

"Unless … it becomes a good _family time_ for them …"

"I'm starting to think that Logan should have brought them to Japan with him," Steve said, shaking his head as he went back to his sketch.

"Party pooper," Jan said, sticking her tongue out at him before she turned back to Jean and grinned. "Oh yes. I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

"Oh, don't act like you don't want to see it as much as we do," Jean said to Steve with a troublemaking smile. _I know you do._

Steve glanced up at the girls and then smirked and shook his head, going back to his drawing. _I've known him longer than either of you. I know he'll get what he wants_ — _without your help._

"Now that is a statement, Mr. Rogers," Jean said. "Oh my gosh."

"You two are making such a big deal out of this." He looked up at last, still smirking. "Now, I'm absolutely on board to help get paperwork in order — you're right; Clint and K should have that concretely sorted out. But as to the rest of it? Be patient. It'll happen."

"Scott's on his way with the information for Clint," Jean said with a smile.

Jan beamed. "Oh good! When is K's birthday — do you know? We can totally make it a birthday present if it's soon."

"Actually, I don't …" Jean said, her smile falling slightly. "That's on the list of things we don't know about her."

"Well…" Jan let out a breath. "Well, it couldn't be a surprise anyway, because we have to talk to her to get information for the adoption paperwork. And I bet she'll be cagey unless we explain what we're doing outright, you know?"

"She absolutely will," Jean agreed.

"So!" Jan clapped her hands together and beamed. "I'll talk to K, and you and Steve can work out the rest of the paperwork with your sweet husband — who I am totally still hugging, by the way…"

"Or," Jean said, "I can join you in talking to K, and we can let Scott and Steve figure it out. You know. In case you need my help …"

"You just want to see her face when we tell her we have a way to make her his mom officially," Jan giggled.

"That and I want to know her name."

"I bet it's something like… Sicem-worthy," Jan giggled.

"It could go any way, really," Jean said. "But she hasn't shown any favoritism toward any name we guessed…"

"Well, let's not sit in suspense!" Jan beamed — and then suddenly, she was wasp-sized, her wings fluttering. "Race ya!"

Jean narrowed her eyes and reached out telekinetically to hold Jan in place. "You got it." She took her time walking past her with a smile.

"Oh, you are _such a cheat!_ " Jan laughed outright.

"Says the girl who tried to _fly_ there!"

"Can't _you_ fly, Marvel Girl?"

"I can," Jean agreed. "But this is just as effective."

"Still cheating!" Jan sang out.

"You love the competition!" Jean sang back before she released her — but didn't warn her about the telekinetic shield that wouldn't let her pass her by either.

Jan laughed as she tried to catch up, though of course, she didn't get there before Jean found K first — all curled up in the light of a window overlooking the city as she read an old book. Jan wasn't too far behind, of course, but Jean was grinning, especially when Jan blurted out, "You are such a _cheater_!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Jan," Jean said, pulling a face and shrugging up to her ears.

Jan shook her head and stuck her tongue out at Jean playfully before she dropped down beside K with a wide grin. "So!" she said. "Apparently, Cyclops has paperwork for kids that get, you know, kicked outta their homes and stuff — and we decided it is _high_ time that you and Clint had paperwork too."

"I'm very sure you need to have federally approved identification for that kind of thing," K said.

"Um, we've got Captain America on our side," Jan pointed out. "We can totally figure it out."

"I don't know about that," she said. "All my records were destroyed by the program. Legally, I don't really exist. And I can't really prove otherwise. So unless you're talking about Captain America forging documents …"

Jean shook her head. "We've had to deal with some weird situations with the school…" She leaned forward. _And if we need to, Charles and I can always just…_ make _it happen._

 _Oooh, you're a very bad girl, Mrs. Summers. Bad influence_ , K projected back.

 _I am, I know. Now do you want to be a mom or not?_

K closed her book and looked between the two of them. "Did you clear this by Clint?"

The two women glanced at each other and shook their heads. "No, but you're the one we need information from," Jan said.

"You need his permission, too," K said. "I won't participate in anything like that unless it's what _he_ wants."

"Of course he does," Jean said, looking like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "How soon did he start calling you 'Mom'?"

"I don't know," K said, shrugging. "But there's a difference between that and this." She got to her feet. "I can ask him if you really think that it can be a thing, but if that _is_ what he wants — you damn well better be able to deliver."

"Between the Avengers _and_ the X-Men?" Jan pointed out. "How could it _not_ happen?"

 _I'm still not above forging it for you,_ Jean projected, with a smirk that kept widening.

 _Bad girl_ , K replied.

 _I had to get this way somehow_ , Jean teased, gesturing to her stomach.

 _Corrupting that sweet boy. Trickery._

 _He loves it._

 _I'll bet he does,_ K projected out, smirking to herself. "Where's Clint anyhow?"

"On the roof," Jean said. "Showing Storm how much he loves heights."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Jan grinned at the two women. "Let's go!"


	6. How to Make Cap Blush 101

**Notes: Yeah, you know Cap is gonna stand by his friend ;) He knows the score here, and he knows it's all gonna work out. And he knows it'll work out the way the girls want it to, so why get worked up? :P I love how much Logan's friends have FAITH in him.**

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 **Chapter 6: How to Make Cap Blush 101**

* * *

When they got up to the roof, K took a moment to catch Clint's attention, keeping their conversation to sign so that he felt more comfortable in privacy. _These ladies want to work up some legal papers, but I don't want to do anything permanent unless it's what you want. So, do you want to be adopted?_

Clint stared at K. _By… by you?_

 _Me._

There was a long moment where Clint simply stared at K before he nodded quietly and then darted forward to wrap his arms around K's neck. "Yes, yes please," he whispered.

"I had to check first," she said.

"What's your last name?" Clint asked. "Do you want me to change mine?"

"You don't have to change a thing," K said. "You wouldn't like mine."

"Okay," Clint said, still hugging.

She snuggled him tightly and then kissed the side of his head. "Okay. I guess they need to know a few things. I didn't mean to interrupt you when you were having your Storm time."

"Storm says she could get me down from the roof the fun way," Clint said, grinning up at her.

"That sounds like an interesting trip … wind riding? Or piggyback while she flies?"

"She said I could ride the wind," Clint said. He grinned. "Which is _almost_ as cool as getting adopted," he whispered.

"Love you too," she said, then gave him another kiss at his temple.

Clint gave her one more hug before he dashed off — and she could already hear him excitedly telling Storm about how K was going to be his _real mom_ and _wasn't that so cool_ as Storm barely got a word in edgewise to tell him that was great news.

K watched him for a moment before she turned back to the others at last. "Alright, ladies … where are the things I need to … do?"

"Scott is on his way with the paperwork," Jean said.

"Is he driving or taking the brimstone express?" K asked.

"Oh, well…" Jean grinned. "Kurt _may_ be stranding him with his childhood hero for a little while. Small favor to me. I had a craving."

"Oh _no_ ," K said. "Wicked craving to break his face with smiles." She gestured ahead of them. "So let's go. I hope you have a camera to document the grin. He'll be wearing it in his sleep."

"Kurt has that covered too," Jean promised.

K leaned toward the two women. "Then if he was bringing the papers here — what were you asking me my name for if you didn't have the stuff to work with anyhow?"

"Well, we can't even get started without some basic information," Jan pointed out. "And once we have that, we can just… run with it."

She let out a breath at that and nodded her head. "Alright. Let's get started, I suppose. I don't want to hear a word about it, though."

"About what?" Jan asked, doing her best to look innocent.

"You have no poker face _at all_ ," K said. "My name is Lilja Skogheim. It's old. And Swedish. Okay?"

Jan's entire face lit up, and she clapped her hands under her chin. "Oh. I love it! It's _gorgeous!_ "

"You're overselling it," K said.

"Um, no, it's _beautiful_ ," Jan insisted, almost bouncing in place.

K looked over at Jean, who was at least doing a better job of hiding the grin. "You're both crazy."

"Yeah, but you love us," Jan said, still bouncing on her toes.

"Hey, did you ever get the glitter out of your uniform, or are you still leaving a sparkling trail of wasp dust wherever you go?" K asked with a smile, wide-eyed and batting her lashes.

Jan sniffed and stuck her finger out at K. "I'll have you know Hank kicked me out of his labs for, like, most of the week so I wouldn't contaminate his experiments!"

"Then I guess he needs a little glitter in his suit too," K said. "But I'm going to need you to shrink it first so he can never ever be rid of it."

Jan shook her head, biting her lip. "No… he'd never be able to get anything done…"

"You gonna tell me you're with a guy that can't take a joke?" K said.

"He's…"

"I haven't really seen him, so I need to rely on your word for this," K said.

"Well, just… maybe don't do anything that could keep him out of his lab," Jan said. "He won't think it's funny. At all."

K frowned at that, but by then, she had already decided that she was going to handle him by simply acting like she knew no English if she ran into him.

"You need to find a way to get him to relax," Jean suggested. "Trust me on this."

"I found that making Logan ask nicely for the tools to his bike was a good lesson in patience," K said with a teasing tone. "What about that… withhold something he wants until he asks. Nicely. With a please."

Jan smirked quietly. "That could be fun…" .

"And a change from flirting with Tony to make him jealous," Jean teased.

"You are _such_ a cheater," Jan said.

"You flirt with Tony to make Hank jealous?" K asked, scrunching up her nose. "I thought that was just for fun."

"I mean, Tony's fun anyway?" Jan winced up her shoulders. "But sometimes…. Hank needs to pull his head out."

"So why don't you date the fun one?" K asked. "You are a fun girl. You should have. Fun."

"You don't understand," Jan said, shaking her head. "Hank is sweet, really. He just…"

"I know that you're wasting your time if you're trying to 'fix' someone," K said.

"I can't help it, okay?" Jan said, flushing red. "I love him — I don't know how to stop that."

K stopped and turned toward Jan, then pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her cheek. "As long as he treats you well, that's fine."

"That's what love is about anyway," Jan said. "You don't have to be the same. You just have to be in love. Right?"

"Only if it goes both ways; otherwise, it gets ugly," Jean said. "But yes."

"He does love me," Jan said. "When I can get him out of the lab… he _does_. He's just a workaholic."

"The first step is still admitting there is a problem," K teased.

"Oh, he is so not even there," Jan said with a giggle. "It's kind of cute — sometimes, anyway." She shrugged. "But hey, this is about you and your _family_ , remember?"

"Alright, alright. Lead the way, _gulligubben_."

Jan bounced on her toes and then threaded her arm through K's as they headed down to where Steve and Scott had their heads together — clearly discussing the best way to deal with K's paperwork when the department was still an issue.

Jean smiled when she saw how much Scott was trying to hide his grin and then slid up next to him to kiss his cheek. "So, what do you have?"

"I'm cashing in a favor," Steve explained. "Nick Fury owes me a few." He glanced toward K. "SHIELD will get the paperwork in order for you. That's as official as it can get — and over everyone's heads."

"Oh … okay," she said, frowning slightly. "I'm just sorry it has to take an act of Cap to get it done."

Steve waved his hand. "I'm happy to do it. Really."

She let out a breath and made her way over to the two of them to write out her information for them both, hesitating only for a moment before she put down her birthdate next to her name. "Good luck with that, by the way."

Steve let out a whistle when he saw the date, and Scott's eyebrows shot up. "Well, you've got me beat," Steve said.

"Of course I do," she said with a little laugh. "I was in Paris before the war."

"Um, that _so_ explains the fashion sense," Jan said, her eyes as wide as her grin.

"You have no idea," K said, finally smiling her way. "You're not allowed in my cabin. You'd have a coronary episode if you got into the wardrobe. Lots of hand-stitched things of the time."

Jan let out a noise that said she was dying. " _Please_?"

"It was all custom at the time," K warned. "But … you're not that much taller than me … maybe …"

Jan had to sit down. "Oh. Oh yes. Yes _please_."

"I don't know that you're ready for that," K said, looking up her way as she simply started signing things for Scott and Steve.

"I am. I _am!_ I'm so — I was _born ready_!"

K turned to Steve. "What do you think?" She leaned forward and whispered in his ear which designer she had in the closet to see what way she would lean. "I don't want to kill her."

Steve couldn't rein in the smirk. "I don't know, Jan…"

" _Et tu,_ Cap?"

K kissed his cheek. "Oh, I'm going to have to take you dancing now."

Steve laughed. "Oh, I see how it is. You couldn't find the oldest guy around, so you went for the second oldest."

"Barring Thor," Jan put in.

"Ooh, good point, yes. Nevermind. I'll take the bigger, blonder one. Especially since you don't want to go," K said.

"Hey, I never said I didn't want to dance," Steve laughed.

"Sounded like a no to me," K said before she looked up at Jean. "Am I hearing things?"

"Not hearing things," Jean said, barely keeping her laughter to herself.

"So what's a girl to do when she's shot down by Captain America?" K asked, shrugging one shoulder. "The only thing she can do, of course — go after the Norse God. Standards. Get some."

"She has a point," Jan giggled. "And Thor is so _dreamy_ …"

"Technically, as a Scandinavian, I'm probably like … _supposed_ to try to dance with him anyhow," K chuckled. "For luck. Maybe. Probably."

"Oh, good point," Jean laughed outright.

K looked up at Jean with a perfectly straight face, knowing she was on the verge of a total breakdown. "This is why I don't tell people my birthday, Jean. It's all about the bottom line with these guys, Jean. He took one look and noped right out of a _dance._ " She shook her head slowly. "So cruel. No respect for their elders."

At that, Jean did finally break down laughing, hanging onto Scott's shoulder for support, especially when Steve turned red. "No respect," she managed to say, still giggling madly.

"I wasn't — it wasn't a rejection!" Steve spluttered.

"It's alright," K said, shaking her head as she reached over to pat his wrist. "I probably look far too old for you anyhow."

Steve shook his head, though he started to smirk. "True. I _was_ in my twenties when I crashed…"

"Exactly my point," she said. "Though I'm sure that Tony would take me dancing if I asked. He's not so judgemental, I'm sure."

"Tony is scared of Logan thinking he's moving on his girl," Steve teased.

"Logan knows better," K pointed out.

"He does," Jean agreed, leaning on Scott — who looked like he was trying hard not to look too entertained.

"Besides, I'm looking for a dance, not a lap dance," K deadpanned.

Steve shook his head, still chuckling to himself. "Good. Then we're on the same page."

"Oh, sweet, Cap, if I was hitting on you, you'd know it," she promised. "I hope."

"I'd hope so too," Steve laughed.

K turned to Scott finally. "Do you need anything else from me? I had to fudge my place of birth, since it doesn't exist anymore."

Scott shook his head. "We should have everything set as soon as SHIELD pushes it through."

"And Fury will light a fire under it. I'm cashing in a few favors," Steve said.

"You underestimate how much Fury wanted this information himself anyhow," K pointed out.

"Then I'll just call in _one_ favor," Steve laughed.

"Don't want you letting him off the hook where he hasn't earned it," K agreed.

"And I want to save those favors for later," Steve said.

"Something in mind, or just a rainy day?" she asked.

"Just a girl I met last time I was in SHIELD," Steve said with a smirk and a shrug.

"Well, get with it. Rumor has it Jan is drooling to make a wedding dress — better you than me right now."

"Better start making one for yourself, Jan," Steve laughed. "You've been with Hank longer than any one of us."

Jan flushed bright red. "I… you'd have to talk to … Hank is really busy right now…"

"No one is pushing you, Jan. It was just a little teasing. Take your time," Steve said.

"Yeah…." Jan swallowed and turned toward K. "And… same to you, you know. I mean, call me when you're ready, and I'd _love_ to design for you. But … when you're ready."

"She _is_ a good designer," Steve said with a quiet smirk. "Even if you just want something to wear to a dance with an old war vet."

"I'd love that," K said, smiling at Jan. "And … I guess you can come and see the old Chanel."

"Oooh. _Yes please_."

"It's _early_ ," K warned.

"I don't care — it's _amazing_."

"No, you do care," K said. "A lot."

"Okay, I do. But still!"

"Her little stitches were all perfect," K told her. "And the woman smoked like a chimney and rarely trusted her employees to get it done right before the war."

Jan grinned and leaned forward, her hands clasped under her chin. "Can I keep you? Forever?"

"You can try," she said.

Scott smirked. "Just until the school season starts," he said.

"And then Clint needs to help me make the boys around the mansion spoil me rotten," Jean laughed.

"I doubt they'll need the prompting," Steve said.

"Definitely not," Scott agreed and leaned over to kiss Jean's cheek.

Steve smirked as he picked up the paperwork and put it aside. "Well, I'll just get this up to Fury and we'll have official finalization for you in a few days tops."

"That fast?" K asked, looking honestly surprised.

"You don't have any records," Steve pointed out.

"And Jean and I were already pulling Clint's records for school," Scott admitted. "So we had everything we needed for him."

"Alright then," K said. "I'll leave it to you on how to tell Clint when it's done. Since you have so much already set into place."

"I'll give you the paperwork when I have it. You two should have that moment in private," Steve said.

"I have no idea what I'm doing here, obviously."

"Giving Jan a small heart attack," Steve said without missing a beat.

"Not yet," K said. "She hasn't seen the couture _yet_."

"I _need to see the couture,_ " Jan whispered, still unmoving from where she had to sit down.

"We'll see how it works out. I don't know when I'll be back to it," K said.

"Let me know, _please_ ," Jan breathed out.

Jean chuckled and then pulled Scott to his feet. "We should leave you to it," Jean laughed. "I haven't gotten to spend much time with Clint yet and you know… craving."

"Yes, go handle that, and I'll try to answer Jan's questions now," K said, waving her off. "That all have nothing to do with _me_ , thank goodness."

"Nice deflection," Scott said with a smirk under his breath as he followed Jean.


	7. I Got a Mom Now

**Notes: CC and griezz, I have to agree with both of you: I'm really enjoying all of the FLUFF in this story. It's so nice to have a story where the characters get to honestly have the love and families that they so very much deserve!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: I Got A Mom Now**

* * *

As Steve had predicted, it didn't take long at all for the paperwork to go through. And as K had predicted, Fury was highly interested in even the basic information that was on the paperwork.

But now, Steve was just looking forward to seeing the look on both K and Clint's faces when he got back — and he was sure to tip Scott off as well. After all, he and Jean had a big hand in making sure this came together too.

When Steve got to the tower, Clint was directing a game of darts with gleeful abandon between K and Thor. He kept chanting about how he would get to play the winner — so of course, when Jean arrived, she cheated slightly and moved the target on Thor's turn.

"Guess you'll have to play your mom," she sang out — which prompted Clint to run over to hug her.

"That was going to be the outcome anyhow," K pointed out.

"You would lie to our honored guests?" Thor chuckled. "Nay; I had the upper hand."

"I'm not lying," K said. "But you go ahead and tell your ego whatever you need."

Clint giggled and then grinned up at Jean. "Do you wanna play? You'd have to not cheat, though."

"I don't know; that sounds too hard," she teased right back, brushing his hair back with a fond smile.

"Actually," Scott said, "we brought something for your mom."

"Already?" K said, shaking her head. "You guys are quick."

"Told you we'd handle it," Scott said with a smirk as he handed her a neatly pressed envelope.

K gave him a little smile as she took it then waved Clint over to open it up with him. "You want to read it over? Make sure they spelled your name right?"

Clint's eyes went wide. "Is that… does that say you're my mom now?" he asked, his voice going softer with every word as he made his way over.

"It should," K said. "I haven't read it yet either. Thought we could look it over at the same time."

Clint nodded, unable to hide his smile. "Okay, yeah. Let's do that."

K nodded and spread the contents of the envelope out in front of them, with Clint almost reverently, quietly pouring over it.

"What do you think, kiddo?"

"I think… they got your name wrong," Clint said. "I don't see any K's in here."

K looked it over and shook her head. "No … that's me. That's what my parents called me anyhow. The 'j' is soft … 'Lil- _ya_ '."

"That's really pretty," Clint said softly. "How come you don't use it?"

"I guess I've just been using K for so long …"

"Well, I like 'mom'," Clint said with a decisive little nod, halfway curling into her and not about to let go.

She smiled to herself and pulled him tighter to kiss his head. "Sounds good to me."

Clint stayed curled up with K for a good long time, until he was half afraid to open his eyes again from the snuggle in case he had dreamed it — but eventually, he did let go of K and scrub his hand over his face. "I… um…" He glanced over K's shoulder to where the other heroes were watching — all of them with various looks of pure joy. Jean and Jan were the only ones _not_ trying to pretend they weren't crying.

Clint glanced one more time at K before he darted over to the group — surprising everyone when the first person he went to was Scott, who crouched down to catch him when he launched.

"I got a mom," he whispered to Scott.

For just a second, anyone paying attention could see the open expression on Scott's face before he simply hugged Clint tightly, pulling Clint to his chest and half hiding his face too. "Yeah, yeah you did," he whispered right back.

 _I don't think we're getting either of them back from this,_ Jean projected to K.

 _Not unless you got Steve to sign the papers for Scott,_ K projected right back.

Jean snorted. _Really, though. This is Scott's favorite part of what we do. The family that comes out of bad situations._

 _It's still kind of rare,_ K agreed. _And I wish he'd gotten that sooner. Both of them._

 _You and me both,_ Jean said. _That's why I'm not worried about our little one. Just look at him._ She tipped her head Scott's way. _He's going to be an amazing father._

 _Absolutely,_ K agreed. _It'll be fun to show this reaction to Logan, too._

Jean smirked a little wider. _He'll get hugged too, you know. Clint really looks up to him_ — _even if he's a little possessive of you._

 _We'll see,_ K said. _He's been more wary since Creed._

 _He has a right to be,_ Jean replied. _That was awful all around._

 _I'm not arguing that. And I don't blame him if he just doesn't get over it._

Jean shook her head. _You're forgetting that he ran right to Logan when Professor Xavier scared him. He still knows that Logan will protect him. That's a start._

K nodded at that, but didn't reply, mostly because she was enjoying the pure joy that both Scott and Clint were glowing with and didn't want to mar it with an argument.

When Scott finally let Clint go, Clint scrubbed his nose again and then hid in a long hug with Jean, and Thor was sure to pull K off her feet in a hug as well.

"You both deserve this happiness," he told K warmly.

"That's a charming sentiment," K replied. " _Tack så mycket._ "

Thor grinned at her. "We should drink together," he announced. "This is a time for celebration."

"I'm in favor," Jan said, dabbing at her eyes.

"Ready when you are, thunder god," K said.

"Can I come?" Clint asked from underneath Jean's arms in a tight hug.

"I don't see why not — no reason to slip away from your mom so soon," Jean told him.

"Yeah, I wanna stay with her," Clint agreed, then let out an involuntary giggle when Jean swept him up to carry him herself. She dangled him upside down telekinetically for a second before she shot Scott a crooked smirk and settled Clint on Scott's shoulders.

"Let's go," Jean sang out.

Clint giggled as he held onto Scott's shoulders as they headed down to where — unsurprisingly — Tony had a party already going.

"Hey!" Tony grinned at the group. "Was wondering when you'd make it down here. Congratulations, Mama Barton."

"Ooh, yeah, that's … I'm gonna have to cut something off of you for that," K said. "Sounds like something out of the _Grapes of Wrath_. No."

"Well, what am I supposed to call you, then?" Tony asked. "I can't call Clint 'Baby K'."

"You call him Baby anything and I'm not going to stop him when he kicks you in the nuts."

"I'd have to get down," Clint pointed out. "I'll just throw something."

"You can just call both of us by our actual names, please," K said. "And thank you for being such a tolerant host."

"Hey, you've got some great reasons to break out the good stuff, K," Tony laughed. "If you're going to keep starting celebrations, stay as long as you like."

"I appreciate it all the same," she said. "Clint's gotten a few ideas going since he got here on how to protect himself."

Clint nodded. "I'm gonna be an Avenger."

"You sure about that, buddy?" Scott asked, looking up at him with his head tipped back. "You know you could always be an X-Man."

"Well, I don't got any powers, and you all have powers," Clint pointed out. "But Iron Man doesn't have powers and neither does Jan except for her shrinky stuff, but I dunno if that counts."

"It doesn't," Tony said. "But we're still pretty unstoppable even without the toys."

Clint nodded. "Yeah. I wanna be a hero."

"Tell you what," Scott said with a smirk. "When you're older, after you've had a few combat classes at the school, we'll see if you change your mind."

"Never know," Steve added. "You might just be able to do like Logan and Hank … both teams .."

"Well, I still wanna be an archer archeologist too…" Clint said. "That's a lot of stuff for just one kid…"

"Good thing you're not an average kid," K said.

Clint grinned. "Nope! I'm gonna be an Avenger-X-Man-archeologist-archer!"

"Sounds about right," Scott chuckled.

Clint smiled back down at him and then shrugged. "I dunno if I will look good in yellow, though."

"Kurt wears black and red," Scott said.

"Either way, you'd be choosing your own colors," K said. "No one on the Avengers wears purple either, sweetheart. You're one of a kind."

"Oooh, can I wear purple?"

"Yes. Yes you can," Jan blurted out. "I can make you something."

Clint started to giggle. "I think she wants to make me an outfit, Mom."

"What gave you that idea," Jean deadpanned.

"She's got some time to do that," K said. "But I think the redhead wants to design one for you too."

"Oh, absolutely," Jean agreed.

"In purple," Clint insisted.

"Like there is any other option," Jean laughed. "Storm and I already have thoughts."

"By that, she means she and Storm already have concept art," Scott laughed.

"He's not even _ten yet_ ," K said.

"I know," Jean said.

"But you have to admit — new teammates are the best to design for," Jan pointed out.

"So few and far between," K said as she made her way over to join Thor.

"You should see the designs Jan worked up for our little girl," Jean said with a proud smile. "The 'Daddy's little girl' ones are my favorite."

"I'd love to see it," K replied. "I'm sure that's the crown jewel though."

Jan grinned and zipped over to lean into K. "Oh, but the perfect Marvel Girl onesie is ready."

"Of course it is," Jean said, smiling sedately. "I hope she's a redhead."

"Me too," Scott said without missing a beat.

"Oh, you two are precious," K said. "Scott … come on. You're drinking for two. Jean can't."

"That's not how that works," Scott said, shaking his head.

"I'm pretty sure it is," K said. She turned toward Thor. "Sounds right to you, doesn't it?"

"Oh, of course,' Thor said, simply reaching over to pluck Clint off of Scott's shoulders. "Let me take the little one — lest you stumble under the weight of these rules," he chuckled.

"Aye, stumble not," K teased, pushing a shot toward Scott. "Or risk insulting the thunder god and summoning his vile brother."

"You know," Thor mused, "Loki would enjoy these festivities. He would be thrilled to celebrate a family forged in this way."

"I'm game," K said. "Might be fun."

"We're not inviting Loki," Tony said, pointing at both of them and shaking his head. "Stop that."

"Come on, Mr. Stark," K sang out. "Don't be a party pooper."

"If you are worried, I can always tell my brother of your happy news later when we are in a more private setting — he _will_ want to celebrate."

"Well, if you're bringing your brother, I wanna bring my brother," Clint said.

"From what I understand of Barney Barton, the effect would be the same," Thor teased.

"All the brothers," K agreed. "Bring 'em on."

Tony shook his head to himself, but he couldn't help but laugh. "You sure you have to leave when school starts?"

"Kind of a commute otherwise, isn't it?" K said. "I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do with myself all day."

"The offer is still open to teach," Jean pointed out. "Clint said you taught him about weapons."

"And rodeos," Clint put in.

"I don't know that weapons would be proper to teach," K pointed out. "Especially when you already have a samurai on staff."

"What about horses and stuff?" Clint asked. "I betcha could teach that!"

"We do have a barn and stables that haven't been used for a while," SCott said.

"That's a huge expense to get started," K pointed out.

"Yes. Of course. What were we thinking," Jean said dryly. "I'm sure that we can't possibly afford that with the giant robots and the rebuilding projects we're always doing."

K sighed and turned her way. "That's not the point. It's a long process to find suitable horses for beginners."

"Well, you're sticking around for a while, aren't you?" Jean pointed out.

"That was the idea, yeah," K replied. "But we're already at the end of summer. This is one of those things you have to start up in the spring. If nothing else to stock hay for winter."

"Then you can start next spring," Scott said. "In the meantime, you can help us renovate the barn so you can have things the way you like it."

"Wow. You are all in," K said. "And you don't even know if I can ride worth a damn, let alone teach."

"I… may have peeked at Clint's memories of the rodeo," Jean admitted. "I was curious."

"And what did you see?" K asked.

"A few angry cowboys getting shown up," Jean said, this time with a smirk. "You can ride, K. And the horses love you — I saw that too."

"This area of the country isn't too big on western style," she said.

"Awww, come on, Mom," Clint said from Thor's shoulder. "Just do it! Then you can be a teacher at my school — and that would be _so cool_!"

"You sure you'd be okay with that?" K asked.

"Uh-huh!" Clint nodded. "Everyone should see how cool my mom is."

"We have to figure out how to handle things with Barney too," K said. "I don't want him alone all winter long."

"Well, can't he just stay with us?" Clint pointed out.

"I don't see why not," Scott said.

"He should get a little schooling, too," K agreed. "But he wouldn't be able to start classes on time, and he'd leave early. So …"

"I'll talk to Storm," Jean promised. "I'm sure she and I can work something out like we did for Clint to get him on track."

"Might be smart anyhow," K mused. "I'm sure that Miranda would want to see him making progress, too."

Clint nodded. "I bet she and Paul are helping him with school and stuff anyway."

 _Probably need to get them their own paperwork,_ K signed to him.

Clint grinned quietly and nodded. _Probably,_ he agreed. _I think they're getting married._

 _If they haven't already._

 _In the middle of the season? No way._ Clint shook his head. _Plus, he's gotta ask first._

 _I'll bet they just run away to do it as soon as they get engaged._

Clint shook his head again. _No, I want to see it. And Barney needs to be there too._

 _I'm sure he won't be left out._

Thor beamed at them both. "Then we shall have all the more cause for celebration if your family is indeed growing."

"That … might be overstating it there, big guy," K said, scrunching her nose up at him. "It was this big before."

"Ah, but you are still family to Clint's brother, are you not? And if his family grows, does not yours as well?"

"I'm pretty sure with them it's just a legality, too," K said.

"As it was with you. And yet here we are." Thor beamed and pushed a drink into her hands. "Now, stop questioning the nits and picks and celebrate!"

"I shall not stop questioning, ever ever," she replied.

"Then do so with a drink in hand," Thor said. "We shall watch the others fall to drink long before us."

"You're on," she agreed.


	8. What About Barney?

**Purple X-Men? C'mon, griezz, you can't forget about Betsy. She's all purple all the time and I love her for it ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: What About Barney?**

* * *

Clint had preened around the tower for a while after getting the official paperwork through. It had been a few weeks, and still, he would bring it up sometimes, randomly, to K whenever something reminded him that she was his mother officially.

It was one of the most endearing things Jan had ever seen, really. It drove her to giggle fits whenever Clint would find some new reason to bring it up — whether that was something as simple as "Mo-o-o-om" when she was messing up his hair or, most recently:

"We gotta go get Barney for his birthday," Clint insisted for the third time that week.

"We will," K promised. "I already checked with Paul to make sure we have the right location for this week's stop."

"We gotta show him the papers that say you're my mom," he insisted, grinning around a bite of sugary cereal even as Thor poured himself a bowl full of that same cereal as well.

"Oh, I don't know," K teased, just because she knew Clint was dying. "Does he _need_ to see some boring paperwork?"

"It's not boring!" Clint insisted. "It's not! It's the best thing _ever_!"

"Oh, it is, huh?" K said, obviously grinning at him. "Well, I guess I'm just out of luck for all future birthdays and Christmases…"

Clint shook his head at her, though he couldn't help but laugh at her teasing. "No," he said, shaking his head seriously. "You can still _try_ on those days, even if you being my mom is, like, every single birthday and Christmas and everything all at once and _amazing_!"

"If you say so," K teased, getting Clint to roll his eyes and shake his head at her, though with such obvious affection that it was hard to miss.

Of course, when it actually came time to go get Barney, Clint was nearly bouncing in his seat the entire way there — and getting plenty of affection from Sicem, too. Sicem didn't quite understand why Clint was so excited, but he did know that Clint was _happy_ , so he'd keep licking the little boy and being happy _with_ him.

By the time they pulled up to where the big top was peeking out over the top of a hill, Clint could hardly contain himself.

"He's gonna cry," Clint promised.

K chuckled at that. "Are you sure?"

"I think so. He was always the crier when we were growing up."

K shook her head. "We'll see."

Clint simply picked up the pace as he rushed toward the tent, trying to pick his brother out of the crowd with a grin that threatened to take over his entire face. But this time, it was Barney who saw him first — and returned the favor from all the other times that Clint had surprised him with visits by tackling him.

The boys hit the ground in a pile of laughter and accusations that the other one was cheating when it inevitably turned into a wrestling match. But eventually, once they'd picked themselves back up, Barney hugged him instead. "I was wondering when you guys'd show up," he said.

"We weren't going to miss your birthday," K promised.

"Oh, I know," Barney said. "But I got something to tell you, and it's _killing_ me waiting for you!"

"Oh, really?" K asked, one eyebrow raised, though the smirk she was wearing told the boys that she already had her own ideas.

Barney grinned at her. "Oh yeah." He reached into the front pocket of his uniform — which would usually hold hidden knives if he was performing — and pulled out an envelope that was sealed with wax. "You two _gotta_ come, okay? You're part of the family. Everyone here says so."

K couldn't stop her smile as she sat down to open the sealed envelope, with Clint all but hanging on her arm trying to see over her shoulder. It wasn't a surprise that Miranda and the ringmaster had decided to tie the knot, but it was nice that they were both going to try for a more formal affair.

"Miranda already asked me if I'd give her away," Barney said, drawing himself up proudly. "She said I'm the closest thing she has to family anyway, so I told her that I'd do it if Paul asked me for permission if I was gonna be the family guy. That's what you're supposed to do, right? That's what Ana said when word got out."

"You care a lot what Ana says," Clint said with his nose scrunched up.

Barney flushed. "Well, she — she—"

"Uh-huh." Clint crossed his arms, the troublemaking smirk obvious. "So when are you gonna marry _her_?"

"I'm only turning _eleven_ , Clint."

"So you _want_ to when you get older?"

"That's not—"

Clint started giggling madly. "Barney and Ana sitting in a tree!" he started singing as loud as he could — at least until K put a hand on his arm and gave him a look.

"Are you being as pushy as Jan, Clint?" she asked with one eyebrow raised.

Clint froze at that, his mouth slightly open, before he quickly shook his head. "Nuh-uh!"

"Sure looks like it," she pointed out.

Clint sputtered a few half-formed excuses before he let his shoulders drop and breathed out a little 'fine' before he let the matter drop — to Barney's obvious relief.

"Thanks," Barney muttered K's way.

K reached over and ruffled his hair, as she liked to do, just to get Barney to duck away from her and roll his eyes. "We'll be there with bells on," she promised.

"Oh good, because I was gonna kidnap Clint and bring him anyway if you didn't," Barney teased.

"You'd get in a lotta trouble," Clint said with a twinkle in his eye. "'Cause she's my _mom_."

"Yeah, I know," Barney said, laughing and shaking his head.

"No, you don't," Clint insisted. "She's my _mom_."

Barney's eyebrows shot up, and he looked between the two of them for a moment before he started to grin. "Since when?"

"Since a few weeks ago," Clint said, drawing himself up proudly. "We got _Captain America_ to help us!"

"It's cool enough you got a mom on your own, Clint — you don't gotta exaggerate," Barney said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not!" Clint insisted, his lower lip stuck out. "He really did help us!"

"Clint, I think our family's pretty great too, but why the heck would _Captain America_ even care about you and your mom?"

"Because we're awesome, that's why."

Barney shook his head, still smirking. "If you say so."

Clint stuck his tongue out at that, but K mercifully let Barney in on what the deal was: "He's been helping with the people who are after me. We had to do this the sneaky way — so no one would come after Clint either."

"Oh," Barney said, lighting up with understanding. "That makes sense. I bet the Avengers don't like those bad guys."

"Cap said he was gonna feed one of them his shield," Clint added helpfully.

"I'm not sure … how… to do that?" Barney said, obviously trying to picture it and failing.

"Yeah, well, that's okay. I dunno either. But Thor got the biggest bad guy anyway. He said it was because he'd good at killing ogres." Clint leaned forward, his eyes twinkling. "Thor is actually really funny."

"You have the weirdest stories whenever you come and see me — you know that?" Barney said, shaking his head once again.

"They're _true_ , though," Clint insisted.

"Doesn't make them any less weird."

Clint rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue as he followed Barney back to where some of the other carnies were set up. And of course, when Miranda saw the two visitors, she beamed and waved them over to where she and Paul had simply been sitting together and chatting easily.

"I was wondering if you'd go black for your hair dye this time," Miranda teased lightly.

"Trying to be nice to my roomies when it comes to hair dye," K said. "This is so much better anyhow…" She tossed her hair over her shoulder and winked.

Miranda chuckled at that. "Oh, it wasn't a criticism. I think you look lovely," she promised. "It's just a running joke that Paul and I have — I guessed black this time."

"I guessed red. You did blonde last time," Paul put in.

"Well ,you both probably would have lost," K said. "It was long overdue to go something more wild. Like … I don't know. Purple. Or Blue. Congratulations … by the way."

Both of them smiled a little wider at that. "We already talked to a priest about doing it at the end of the season. Can you make it?" Paul asked.

"Yes. We'll be there." K nodded and turned toward Clint. "Wouldn't miss it, right?"

Clint grinned and shook his head. "No way. I wanna see my big brother give you away!"

"I'm very lucky to have him," Miranda agreed with a smile. "Which reminds me… do you mind if I borrow your mother?"

"Okay, but she's _mine_ and all official now, so you _gotta_ give her back," Clint said, grinning proudly.

"Congratulations are in order both ways, then," Paul said, smiling K's way.

"I'm just happy he wanted to keep me," K said. "I'm a lucky girl."

Clint grinned even wider at that. "Me too," he said. "I'm real glad we got it worked out."

"C'mon, Clint," Barney said, grinning at the adults in the room. "You have lots of weird stories to tell me, I'm sure."

"Oh yeah," Clint said, with obvious relish, as he let Barney lead him off so the adults could talk.

Miranda smiled after the boys long after they were gone before she turned to K. "I'm glad that you both have each other," she said, first and foremost. "But we wanted to ask you about Barney." She leaned forward slightly. "I know it's an unorthodox arrangement, what you and the boys have… but do you think you'd like them both?"

Paul held up a hand. "We're not turning him out of the circus. We're just asking if you'd like to adopt him too or if this is just between you and Clint."

"I adore the kid," K said. "But … that … alright. So, when it came up, I left that decision up to Clint. I didn't want him thinking he didn't get a say."

Paul nodded. "We were thinking of asking Barney to join the family," he admitted. "But we wanted to ask you first."

"We'd love to be aunt and uncle too if that's what he wants," Miranda said quickly. "But he needs something more permanent."

"I'd take him in a second to call him my own," K said. "But that … with him especially, I wouldn't try to make that call without his input."

"He does like to have his independence," Miranda said with an affectionate smile.

"He more or less raised his little brother, from what I understand of things," K said. "He's just a tiny adult. At least … as far as he's concerned."

Paul chuckled. "Yeah, he's already jockeying for my job," he joked.

"I'd watch my back if I were you," K said. "He'd do it."

"He'd be great at it," Paul laughed.

Miranda shook her head and pinched Paul's side before she turned back to K. "I know you have the boys for the weekend, so I wanted to give you the chance to talk to him," she said. "We can have it drawn up ahead of the wedding either way. He needs something to celebrate for himself too."

"I'll ask him — and I'll give him both options," K promised. "If he wants to stick with Clint _officially_ , then I know a guy to make it happen stupid fast."

"Oh good," Miranda said, leaning back against Paul. "I know he thinks he's too old, and I'd love to surprise him with how wrong he is."

"He's like any other kid Christmas morning," K said. "He's adorable."

Paul chuckled. "And he's like any little boy around Ana. He tell you about her yet?" His eyes twinkled as he said it, and Miranda hit him in the arm with a quiet laugh.

"Who?" K asked, looking as if she'd never heard the name at all. "I'm sure you're mistaking him for some _other_ dashing young Barton."

He chuckled. "Oh yeah. And that was definitely not him stealing kisses behind the tent last week."

"Oh, see … now I wanna buy her a lemonade just to watch him react," K said.

"He turned as purple as his shirt," Miranda laughed. "First love — it's so fun to watch."

"I'm so glad he's enjoying himself and _growing_."

"In more ways than one," Paul said. "Sorry to say he outgrew the clothes you brought last time. We can hardly keep up with him."

"I always bring him new clothes," K said. "I went up three sizes … and I can give you a number to call now if he needs something."

"We've been handling things too," Miranda said.

"I know … I just like to make sure he knows his whole support system is behind him. All the time."

Miranda smiled at that. "It means the world to him. And Clint. It's obvious, even if they don't say it."

"They're good boys, both of them," K agreed.

"And Barney always looks forward to your visits," Paul said. He smiled her way. "Go ahead and leave that number, please — I was wanting to coordinate with you on presents come Christmas anyway."

"After all," Miranda said with a smile, "we may know a thing or two about the styles and toys he's eyeing."

"That would be great," K said earnestly. "I felt bad only coming up with what I did last time. Mostly clothes and a little for his studies ..."

"The way I heard it, you gave him the key to El Dorado," Paul chuckled. "He loved it."

"Glad to hear it," K replied. "I thought he enjoyed it, but he was so quiet." she tipped her head. "Of course … worrying that his idiot mentor wasn't going to let him back in probably put a dampener on a lot of things."

"Ugh." Miranda waved a hand. "Good riddance, I say."

Paul shook his head and then gestured to K. "Let us know if you need anything at all. He's part of our family now, and we want to help."

"Will do," she promised. "And really … thank you for keeping him on. He would have been heartbroken otherwise."

"And we can't have that," Paul said with a smile. "It's our pleasure."

* * *

When K caught up to the boys, they had moved on from telling stories to trying to one-up each other throwing knives. They both had very different styles, though, so they kept arguing over who was doing it better. Clint's was more efficient for fighting, but Barney's looked like a showman.

"Boys, you're both pretty," K said.

"M-o-o-om," Clint whined. "Why are you like this?"

"Why do you like me like this?" she countered.

"I don't kno-o-o-ow," Clint said, tipping his head back dramatically.

She made her way over to him and kissed his forehead upside down. "Is it because I'm pretty? Because that's a fair answer. Considering."

"Well, that's part of it," he giggled.

"Yeah, I like when you look like you," Barney put in.

"I like when I look like me too. That last one was just … weird. I could have been in sweatpants and no one would have known any different."

"It was like magic," Barney said. "But our magician isn't even _that_ good."

"If I did my research right," K said, "it was just very advanced tech. Even if the guy that made it thinks he's magical in all ways."

Clint snorted. "Sounds right."

"So … Barney my boy … have you decided what we're doing tonight?" K asked.

Barney grinned and nodded. "Oh yeah!" he said. "I wanna eat something that's not a burger or fast food or something, so I was thinking maybe we could go Italian?"

"You got it," she agreed easily. She stopped and turned to walk backwards, facing the boys. "I may not have changed my hair … but ... borrowed a car. Have to switch some things up all the time, right?"

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't," Barney teased.

"If I didn't, you'd be bored," she said.

"Mom, Barney doesn't _get_ bored. He lives in a _circus_ ," Clint said, rolling his eyes.

"Which is why he _would_ get bored," she said. "But … pick the Italian place … though I'm assuming that 'Italian' isn't code for 'pizza'."

Barney laughed. "No, we get pizza and burgers all the time. I wanna eat, like, spaghetti or something that you gotta _make_."

"And sit down to eat," K said, nodding. "Well … just so happens that I do okay with a primavera pasta ... if you can stand vegetables … and we can put together an easy tiramisu for dessert — that's chocolate and coffee, by the way. Girls _love_ chocolate and coffee."

"O...kay, so why are you telling me that when I'm a _boy_?" Barney said, his nose scrunched up.

"So you can get ideas on what to give girls," she said with a raised eyebrow.

Barney flushed slightly and looked down at his shoes. "Oh. Okay. Thanks," he said.

She couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I know what most guys like, too," she said. "It's not a _bad_ thing."

"Mom just knows everything," Clint said in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone.

"I was gonna pick up your birthday cake … but then I figured it might be better to make it …" K shrugged. "Unless you want to find a bakery and pick something different out than last time."

Barney shrugged. "I dunno. I just like having something that's not candy corn and stuff."

"Okay. Well … how do you like red velvet?" K asked. "Jan said that there was a great bakery in town that makes the best red velvet cupcakes."

"Ooh, I like that!" Barney agreed.

"Then after dinner, I'll order them for tomorrow," K said. "But … I think we need to get shopping to cook, and then we can spend a little down time, yeah?"

"Can we get some strawberries and powdered sugar?" Barney asked.

"Ooh, like we had all the time at the Boltons?"

Barney grinned and pointed at Clint. "Exactly. I love that stuff!"

"That sounds perfect," K agreed. "And raspberries and cream."

The boys grinned at that and had a bounce to their steps as they followed K to the store, and they were back to roughhousing by the time they actually got set up at the cottage. Sicem loved it, of course, and it took no time at all before all K could hear while she set up the meal was laughter and playful barking.

It wasn't until after dinner, when everyone seemed settled in, that K decided it was time to bring up the subject of the paperwork. "Did Clint show you his papers?" she asked Barney as he stretched out on the couch, petting the softest spots on Sicem's ears.

Barney grinned and nodded. "He's real proud," he said. "And I'm glad he got a mom. He needs one, you know. He's still real little."

"I think just about everyone needs a mom," K said. "Sometimes." She drew in a deep breath and turned his way a little more obviously. "So … with that in mind, I should tell you that Miranda and Paul asked if I wanted to adopt you too, because they would like to if I wasn't interested."

Barney's eyes went wide, and he stared at K. "Are you… really?" he breathed out.

"I told them that the decision is yours. But that I'd love it if you wanted to adopt me, too." She leaned forward. "The decision is yours either way."

At the phrasing, Barney couldn't help but smile. "I… I didn't think nobody wanted me," he said. "I mean… I'm eleven and nobody wants older boys."

"Sweetheart, I'd adopt you if you were nineteen and on your own if you wanted it," K said.

Barney chewed on his bottom lip. "Wow."

"I'm not asking for an answer tonight," she said. "Take your time thinking it over. I know it's a big decision — and either way, neither Paul, Miranda, or I … we won't change having you do what you like with the circus. We just want to make it so no one can take you away from what you love."

Barney nodded quietly. "Yeah… I really like the circus," he admitted, then glanced up at K. "Do you… I dunno if I can call you 'Mom'..."

"Barney, you can call me whatever you want," she said. "I won't make you do anything that would make you feel like you were forgetting your mother."

Barney nodded again before he suddenly darted over and gave her a hug — though it turned into almost a snuggle instead of the usual quick hug. "You're the nicest foster we've ever had," he said.

"Then I may or may not want the names of the bad ones to kick the crap out of them," she deadpanned.

Barney shook his head and then hugged her again. "Can I… it matters to some people if I wanna keep my name."

"Clint is still a 'Barton'," K said. "I won't take that from anyone."

"Oh good, because I don't think I could be 'Barney K'."

She let out a little sigh. "You should probably _read_ the paperwork, Barney. It's so much worse than that."

Barney shrugged. "I saw it was an adoption finalization. It's …. What more do you need to do?"

"Your brother checked the names at least," she laughed. "But really - take your time. Discuss it with your brother before you decide — if you want."

"Can we surprise him?" Barney asked in a whisper.

"Sure," she agreed.

Barney nodded. "Okay. I… I wanna just… I wanna talk to you maybe… maybe later," he said.

"Any time," she promised. "Wake me up if you need to."

Barney smiled and shook his head. "If I'm gonna get adopted, I'm glad it's you. I just… I just don't know if I wanna get adopted, that's all," he admitted.

"I totally understand. That's why I told Paul and Miranda that it was your call."

Barney swallowed and then nodded before he leaned in and snuggled her all over again. "Thanks, K. This is a really, _really_ great birthday present."

"Honey, this is just a talk we'd have even if it wasn't a birthday. Your present … well. That's tomorrow."

Barney smiled up at her and then finally got up. "I'm — I'm real glad Clint found you K," he said, then kissed her cheek quickly and darted away before he could turn too red.


	9. We Are Family

**Chapter 9: We Are Family**

Barney couldn't actually sleep. He tried, but he just kept thinking about what K had said and about what it would be like to be adopted. _With_ Clint.

It wouldn't be like the family they used to have. It would be better in a lot of ways, actually. Their dad wouldn't be around to screw it up. And Barney would still get to do his own thing and know that Clint was still safe.

He finally decided that he just wasn't going to get to sleep, so he made his way down to K's room and knocked quietly on the door. And in the short time that it took K to call out that the door was open, Barney legitimately thought about just… _not_.

But he went in anyway, shuffling a few steps before he nodded to himself. "Hi."

"Is everything alright?" K asked.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I just… I just couldn't sleep… I was thinking about my folks a lot…."

"Clint does that too, sometimes," she said, nodding.

"My mom was real nice," Barney said. "You woulda liked her, I think."

"I'm sure I would have," she agreed.

"You wouldn't have liked my dad, though," Barney said. "Mom didn't know how to make him stop." He glanced up at her. "Not like you do."

K nodded at that, looking serious. "My stepdad was like that," K told him. "My mom couldn't get it together either. I think that happens a lot, really. Doesn't mean she didn't want to, though."

Barney swallowed and looked down again. "So… so I think… I think I wanna be in the family that you and Clint have," he said.

Her eyebrows went up, and she looked up at him openly. "Really? Because I'd love it."

Barney nodded, still looking down. "I know I'm not Clint and I didn't find you, but I… I really wanna have that again. Me and him and a family and… and… yeah."

"I don't know that I could measure up to anything your mom did with you guys … but I'd like to try."

Barney shook his head. "I don't want you to be Mom," he said.

"Not what I meant," she tried to clarify. "I just want you both to know how _wanted_ you are."

Barney smiled lightly and then scooted a little closer. "Are you sure?" he asked, finally glancing up at her. "Because if you're not… I get it. I do."

"I wouldn't bring it up if I wasn't sure," K said. "But that's also why I wanted _you_ to decide. I know what it's like to be younger and not be given a choice in what happens to you."

"Well, you said I could stay at the circus, right?" Barney said. "So… so I think it's a good idea."

"Yep, you can stay at the circus during the season," K agreed. "And when you're off, well … I know you're not overly concerned about schoolwork, but if you would like to catch up, the place we've been staying at will take care of you right. I already told them that _if_ you came there with us that you weren't going to ditch the circus, so they'd have to work around the season — and make sure you kept your time to practice." She tipped her head his way. "Besides. I said I'd teach Clint how to shoot a bow off of horseback. Not fair not to offer it to you, too."

Barney broke into a grin. "That would be so. Cool," he breathed out. He rubbed a hand through his hair. "Will they be okay that I — I ain't been to school in a long time, so I'm not really in sixth grade or whatever I'm supposed to be in…"

"They didn't have any problem with Clint — and they didn't give me any flack about not pushing him into school — so if anyone gives you grief, let me know and I'll take 'em out back by the trash cans."

"I can do that myself," Barney said with a smirk. "I'm old enough."

"Yeah but I _like_ to do that stuff too," K said, grinning at him.

"Me too," Barney admitted.

"Then … you might just like that this school teaches self-defense as a _requirement_ ," K said.

Barney grinned. "That sounds like a school I might actually _like_."

"I think you're old enough for the combat class too," K said. "I'll ask when I make the phone call later… paperwork."

"Well, how old do I need to be? I'm eleven; that's pretty big."

"I don't know, but I think you'll be able to get in if I ask nicely anyhow."

Barney grinned at that and then almost hesitantly climbed up next to her to give her a quick hug. "I wanna grow up and do stuff like this when I get older," he told her. "I wanna help kids too. Like you said."

"You're gonna be the best dad ever then," she said. "Because you'll remember what it was like — and that helps, I think."

"Well, it's not like I got a real high bar to jump over to be better'n mine," Barney muttered.

"Then I'm sorry I didn't meet you guys earlier so I could kick the crap out of him."

"Woulda been nice if you got him before he got Mom killed," Barney agreed quietly.

She pulled him over to give him a quick hug and to kiss the side of his head. "You don't have to worry about that with me," she said. "I'm stupid hard to kill."

"Yeah. 'Cause you heal and stuff," Barney said. He swallowed and then hugged her again — and he finally started to feel tired after a little while sitting there with her now that he wasn't so caught up in thinking about it.

Of course, as soon as K was sure that her boys were both soundly asleep, she relaxed too, and when she glanced at the clock, it was with a little frown. It was too late - or early, depending on life choices - to make any phone calls. And since Barney wanted to surprise Clint with it … she'd have to wait until the boys were outside to make the call during daylight.

But when she woke up at her usual time, she listened hard and wasn't surprised at all to hear that the boys were still sleeping. It was a much more reasonable hour … and the guy that she knew would need the info was up … So she made the call and kept her tone quiet. "Am I too early, Scott?"

"Perfect timing, actually. I was just about to go on a run."

"Well, if you're not too swamped, I was hoping you could do another round of paperwork for me."

"What do you need?"

"Same thing — just … for Barney."

There was a pause before Scott answered — and she could hear the grin in his voice. "I already had it done up — just in case."

"I thought you might," she said. "But we talked last night, and he wants to go forward."

"That's great news," Scott said, genuinely thrilled — and obviously so. "I can have it to you as soon as we get the official signoff."

"I really appreciate it, Scott. Thank you. I'll be here most of the weekend, so if you need me to sign anything, I can hit it whenever I see you."

"Hey, I know how important this is. I'll make this a priority, and you'll have it in front of you fast."

She couldn't help but smile at him, since she knew how hard he'd pushed to get Clint's papers through, and she was reasonably sure that if it meant another chance to draft Steve into helping him — he'd jump on it just as fast as Scott. "You're wonderful, Scott. Don't hurt yourself, okay?"

"Hey, worst that can happen is a papercut, and then I'll file a grievance with you and your boys."

"And a pretty redhead will have to kiss it better … so I'm sure there will be a few dozen grievances."

"I'm sure," Scott said. "Okay, I'll call you when I have something."

"Thanks again," she said before she hung up, smiling to herself. She was awake, the dog was up with the boys … so it appeared that coffee was in order before she started on breakfast for the sleeping beauties.

* * *

The weekend was almost out when K got an early morning wakeup call the morning that she'd be dropping Barney off with the circus again. The scent of brimstone was the first thing that tipped her off, and then when she opened her eyes, Kurt gave her a deep, showman's bow, with Scott grinning beside him.

"Welcome to my hideaway," K said before she stretched out. "I take it you got impatient and got Jean to find us?"

"Hey, I know it's Barney's birthday," Scott said. "I wanted to catch you before the weekend was out so it could be one to remember."

"How many arms did you twist to get it done so fast, Scott?" K asked.

Scott held up his hands. "Hey, all I did was ask Captain America who I needed to talk to, and a few hours later, I had an invite to the tower."

She chuckled at that and waved them off. "Go make some coffee, I'll be out as soon as I'm _dressed._ And if you leave before I get to hug you both, I'm going to make you regret it."

"Oh, what a threat," Kurt chuckled. "How could we ever turn down a hug from such a beautiful woman?"

"I don't want to know how that could happen," she said, heading to her dresser already. "Coffee. Go. If you want to wish him a happy birthday, have a cup with me while I make breakfast."

"Of course," Kurt said, vanishing in blue smoke along with Scott so that K could finish her morning routine.

When she got out to them, the coffee was brewing and the men were both standing at the big picture window that looked out over the lake. "It's a little better to look at later in the season," K commented. "Like when the leaves are in full color."

"Is that an invitation to return?" Kurt asked with a grin.

"Would you _want_ to return?" K asked. "There's not much here, after all."

"Ah, but the company is excellent," Kurt said. "After all, you have the magnificent Barney Barton, weapons master extraordinaire," he teased.

"He is pretty amazing," she agreed as she poured out a cup of coffee and headed over to pick up the folder from Scott, though she was sure to pop up on her toes and kiss his cheek.

Scott smirked at her. "Where are the boys?"

"Upstairs, sleeping. Or …" She paused and tipped her head to the side. "Pretending to be asleep. Probably waiting for breakfast."

"What are you making?" Scott asked. "I can help."

"Swedish crepes," she said. "Thimbleberries and raspberries I got out of the bushes yesterday."

"I can't help with the crepes, but I can help with the rest."

"And I can bring down our sleepyheads," Kurt said with a smirk.

"Sure, I won't argue it," she agreed before she started up with the batter.

Kurt grinned at that, and it wasn't long before both of the Barton boys were downstairs — with Barney more than a little surprised at _how_ he'd gotten there.

"Happy Birthday, Barney," K half sang out as she kept working. "Your presents are on the counter. You should probably open the little one first."

Barney grinned and shook his head. "What's — what's with the group party?"

"We're just the delivery boys," Kurt chuckled.

"And sous chefs," K added.

Clint shook his head at that before he climbed up into his seat and grinned at both of them. "Long time no see."

"Yes, the mansion seems so much quieter without my favorite pirate in training," Kurt teased.

"I'm sure Logan won't take offense at all," Scott said half under his breath, though he was still smiling. "Solid replacement."

Kurt shook his head at that. "No, _mein Freund_ , Logan is not _in training_."

"Not for that anyhow," K had to add, just to watch Kurt's reaction.

Kurt scoffed at her for a second, then smirked and teleported over to pick up her hand and kiss it. "Ah, well, when you have me for comparison…"

She started to laugh at that and then set down what she was working with to wrap him up in a hug. "I've been too slow, right? Is that the trouble?"

Kurt laughed and spun her in the hug. "Yes, of course. And really, K, if you spend so much time with my best friend, you _must_ spend more time with me. I'm selfish about sharing my time with him, you know," he teased.

"I had no idea … seeing as there haven't been any interruptions."

"I was trying to be polite," Kurt said with a shrug. "Now… I am not so patient."

"I'm not going to fight you for time," K said with a little wave.

"Good, because you will lose," Kurt teased. He brought her hand up to kiss it again. "Which I am so sorry for."

"Oh, you're so wrong," she said, shaking her head. "I'd just move to distract and let him decide what to do with his time." She grinned at him and kissed his cheek. "Good luck."

Kurt was chuckling as he shook his head, though the Barton boys were both making faces behind his back and getting more dramatic about it when they caught Scott smirking their way.

Still, the little back and forth came to a stop when Barney had finished unwrapping his presents, and he came running over to K wearing a leather jacket that was just slightly too big for him to wrap her in a hug.

"I need a motorcycle now," he teased.

"I'm sure we can work up to it," she said pulling him in tightly and then kissing his cheek. "You look handsome. As always."

"I really like it," he said. "Thanks, K."

"You gotta get him stuff like that so people know he's older now that I'm getting real tall," Clint teased.

"I gotta get him stuff like that because it looks great on him," K said.

"Yeah, don't hate because you can't keep up," Barney said, sticking his tongue out at Clint.

Clint rolled his eyes again, and Scott tipped his head to the envelope he'd given K. "Great birthday, right?"

Barney glanced at the envelope. "Is that mine too?"

"Yep," she said, nodding lightly as she started plating up their breakfasts. "Open it."

Barney raised his eyebrows before he opened the envelope and then stared at what was inside. And of course, Clint was too curious to let it be, so he looked over Barney's shoulder… and let out a whoop of excitement, wrapping Barney in a hug that Barney returned with a disbelieving grin.

Clint rushed over to hug K, too, grinning up at her. "You get to be _both_ of our mom!"

"Lucky me that you both agreed," K said, hugging him tight.

Barney grinned at last and then rushed over to K and gave her a hug too. "Thank you," he whispered.

"Thank _you_ ," she replied as she pulled him in. "But Scott — Scott was the one to rush the papers."

Barney looked up at the two men and paused. "Which… which one is Scott?"

"The tall one that's been smirking enough to break his face all morning," K said. "I thought you'd recognize our acrobat's voice though at least."

"He… was blonde before…" Barney shook his head and then slipped over to stand close — but not too close — to Scott and look up at him. "Thanks," he said quietly.

Scott nodded, not bothering to stow the smile. "Hey, I'm a firm believer in keeping families together," he said.

Clint grinned at that and zipped over to give Scott a short hug. "Definitely."


	10. Hank Pym is Going Down

**Notes: CC, oh yeah. You know that Scott would have loved for this exact thing to happen for him, and he's just so pleased. And Barney... my heart really breaks for that kid, honestly. He has been trying to be a tiny adult this whole time and I just want to wrap him up and tell him that he doesn't HAVE to be. He's allowed to be a kid!**

 **And Arly, HI! Right now, as I'm posting this, you're finally into Book Three and I don't know what you're gonna do when you catch up. Die of anticipation, probably :P Seriously, though, your reviews are making me grin SO HARD. I'm loving it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Hank Pym Is Going Down**

* * *

When Clint and K got back to the tower, Clint was still in a great mood. He bounded into the tower and positively attacked the first Avenger he saw — not even caring for the moment that it was Tony he was hugging as he declared " _best weekend ever!"_

"Hi, Tony," K said, passing them by before Clint let go and bounded off to pass her by.

Tony shook his head, clearly unsure what was happening. "So, I take it things went well?"

"It did," she said, nodding. "Very smooth — easier than I thought, too."

"Mom adopted me and my brother _both_ ," Clint announced proudly.

"And you … have been wearing that same t-shirt since Friday," K said, scrunching her nose up at Tony. "You do need to take breaks. Hose off..."

"Hank and I are _this_ close to a breakthrough on the AI we're working up," Tony said, grinning at her.

"Does he smell as badly as you do?" she asked. "Do I need to ask Pepper to help you scrub down?"

Tony laughed and shook his head. "Not that I'd turn it down. Or do you want to do that part?"

"Ask Pepper? I already said I would," she replied. "You're not looking for a _mom_ to make sure you get behind your ears are you?"

Clint snorted at that. "Now you're momming everyone!" he teased.

"You like it," she said. "And I didn't say I'd do that for him." She turned to face Tony. "Come on. Grab a bite with us if you can't clean up without help. I know you have to be hungry."

Tony smirked. "Okay, that much is true. Jan _did_ come in this morning and make sure there was coffee…"

"In your pretty pretty princess of the tower mug?" K asked.

"You know, I'm very attached to that mug now," Tony said, the smirk widening.

"I'm so glad to hear it," she said.

"Mom and Jan and me had a lot of fun making it," Clint added.

"I bet they did," Tony laughed as he walked with the two of them to the kitchen.

Clint grinned as he climbed up to sit between the two adults and pour himself some cereal. He was still clearly riding the high of the whole weekend, and he kicked his feet on the chair where he sat, though K was still simply smiling lightly, much more relaxed about it — but also obviously pleased with how things were going.

"So what's this massive break-through you two are so close to?" K asked, stirring her coffee.

"An AI program that surpasses anything else that's out there in the field right now," Tony said with a grin.

"Tony, everything you make surpasses the field," she said dryly.

"Good point," Tony laughed. "Seriously, though. This — this is big. The artificial, _learning_ intelligence should help us not only with our work but with our _team_." He held up his hands as he gestured excitedly. "Just picture it — we'll be able to get to the bad guys before they even know we're aware of them!"

"Sounds like an exercise in laziness ... get a robot to do your job…" She stopped and turned his way. "Just … tell me it's not a girl-bot."

"Please, if I needed a girl-bot, I wouldn't have the reputation I do."

"Keep hiding away with Hank without showering, and you _will_ need a girl-bot," she said. "Unless you start showering with Hank… poor Jan."

Tony shook his head at that. "Yeah, no. Hank's not my type."

"Plus, Jan likes him a lot," Clint added.

"Yeah, don't go stealing nice girls' boyfriends, Tony," K said.

"Like it would be hard to steal Jan," Tony said. "The way Hank's ignoring her…" He rolled his eyes.

"Maybe someone should have a talk with him," K said, dropping the tease and turning his way.

Tony leaned back and matched her serious expression. "You think we haven't all at some point tried to get Hank to pull his head out?"

K smirked at that then nodded. "Then maybe … it's the wrong talk."

"We've all tried to talk to Jan too, but she's _way_ beyond logic," Tony chuckled.

"Tony, women don't usually care for logic. I thought you knew that. She's not married yet. Ask her out."

Tony blinked at her. "What?"

"Ask. Her. Out. Show her a good time doesn't involve waiting around for someone to decide to take five minutes to pay attention to her." She let out a laugh. "I know you're interested. So don't … do that face."

Tony spluttered for a second before Clint snorted. "Yep. That face."

"K, I have to live with everyone on the team. I'm not — okay, I know my reputation and everything, but I'm not a _monster._ I'm not going to get in between—" Tony said.

"This has nothing to do with your reputation, Mr. Stark," K said before she tapped her nose. "I know. Things."

"She knew Barney had a crush on the pretty acrobat at the circus that way too," Clint said helpfully.

Tony just chuckled at that and shook his head. "I'll think about it."

"Tony, no," K said, pushing her coffee away. "No thinking for you. Stop that."

But that just had him laughing. "Can't — not sorry — makes me millions when I use this big beautiful brain of mine."

"True as that may be, you miss your best shots when you overthink women."

"Think that's how I missed snagging you before Wolverine got there?" Tony teased.

"Oh, absolutely," she said, nodding.

"Well, now I'm going to be thinking about that all day," Tony said.

"And not your automatic intelligence?" Clint asked.

"Which … you might have needed to use if that was the way it had gone," K had to tease.

"Oh come on — you're not _too_ attached to Logan, right?" Tony said, grinning wider.

She stood up and headed toward the sink with her mug. "Well, I'm not married. But I don't think you're too interested in two boys in the package either, so …"

Tony shook his head, still chuckling. "Missed opportunity," he said as he got up as well.

"Overthinking," she said, shaking her head. "Now you'll never know how I'd get you out of your lab when you needed a break."

"Oh, but now I really, really want to know," Tony said. "You can let Clint play with Thor if you want to keep it secret from little ears."

"Hey," Clint said, his arms crossed and clearly not liking the tenor of the conversation.

"Why don't you just _think_ about it," K said. "Come on, Clint … I'll bet Thor will give you a parade when you tell him about your brother."

"Thor says his brother will probably give us presents too," Clint said, his eyes as wide as his grin. "And I asked Jan, and she said that could be either really awesome or really bad. Which is kinda cool."

"I want to meet his brother," K said. "Dark-haired Norse god could be fun to come up with pranks with …"

"He _is_ the god of mischief. That's what Thor says," Clint said. "He says Loki pranked him _lots_."

"I like him already," she agreed as they headed toward the living room area. "Dark and handsome. Can't beat it."

"Nuh-uh." Clint said, shaking his head. "Blonde and amazing is better."

"Well, there is a single exception to every rule, and you are that exception," she said, ruffling his hair.

"Barney has red hair, so he's the redhead exception, right?"

"The one and only redheaded exception," she agreed.

"Right, yeah, 'cause Jean is real pretty, but she's with Scott," Clint said with a little giggle. "And they're gonna have another redhead, I bet."

"Well that's just my tastes," K said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you fell for the lighter-haired ones … so you match."

Clint shrugged. "Maybe," he conceded. "But I'm only seven; I don't know about that stuff."

"I am not pushing," she promised, hand over her heart.

But as they got into the living room, it was clear that there was a little … disturbance on the far end of the room where Jan and Hank were quietly arguing. K could hear every word, but all Clint could do was read Hank's lips.

From what Clint could see, Hank was complaining about Tony taking a break when there was so much work to be done — and Jan was trying to get him to follow Tony's lead. Which… was not what Hank wanted to hear.

Clint glanced over at his mom, who looked like she was poised to step in if she had to, but when Clint saw the way Hank had his hand in a fist when Jan put hers on his arm, he didn't even think about it before he was already halfway to the two of them.

Of course, when Clint got there and saw the angry red lines on Jan's arm where Hank's fingers had been, he tuned out K telling him to get back and all but climbed in between Hank and Jan, his chin out and his hands in fists as he blurted out, "Don't you touch her."

"Clint," Jan said in almost a breath. "It's fine."

"I can't get anything done with these distractions," Hank said, clearly furious by that point, though Clint was more concerned about how hard he was holding onto Jan's arm. "He's not even your kid, Jan. We could be getting some _real_ work done, but you and Tony would rather waste your time playing house and chasing the next rabbit!"

"What are you _talking_ about?" Jan asked, shaking her head. "Hank, you _need_ to take a break."

"You don't get it," Hank snapped her way, which only had Clint flinching and standing further in front of Jan, who was trying to push Clint back with one hand.

Tony and K both started to move forward as well. Tony tried to keep himself in front of K, though it was clear he had no idea how to even … stop whatever was happening, especially when it seemed like Jan trying to keep Clint out of the argument was only making Hank more frustrated.

"I'm going back to the lab," he said, finally letting go of Jan's arm and all but sneering her way. "You can stay here and play with him — until he leaves and you remember we actually have _important_ things to do."

"Hank—"

"I don't want to hear it!" Hank snapped back, turning with a glare and a backhand that it was clear Jan didn't see coming, even if Clint had and had tried to stop Hank by grabbing his arm. Which really just left Hank with a terrified kid holding onto his wrist and glaring up at him as Jan looked shocked.

"I said don't touch her," Clint said, his voice shaking badly — and in the silence, the obviously fearful tone practically echoed in the tower.

There was no way Tony could even begin to move fast enough as K growled out a clearly furious ' _helvete'_ , as she darted around him, followed by an almost hissing stream of obvious cursing in Swedish before K landed the first hit on Hank — an almost identical backhand, if not for the adamantium boost to it. The crack echoed the room and had Hank staggering backward away from Jan — as Clint tried to push Jan away from Hank and was already muttering about taking care of her and getting her some ice or something to help.

" _Vad är det for fel med dig?"_ K almost snarled out, her hands in fists as she stood over him. " _Har du en döds önskan?_ "

"I don't speak whatever language you're speaking," Hank said, glaring up at her. "I speak plenty, so pick one I understand and get out of my way."

K let out a frustrated sound at that and grabbed him by the front of his shirt just to slam him back into the floor hard enough to bash his head against it.

"K…" Jan was wide-eyed as she watched the scene unfold. "It's — it's fine."

She turned to glance at Jan, a finger pointed her way as she shook her head. " _Nej, det är det inte. Du gjorde inte något fel._ "

"She says no," Clint whispered to Jan. "I know that one. Just… just come on. If you wrap up some frozen veggies, it's like an ice pack…" He grabbed her hand to try to pull her along — which was right about when Logan walked in, fresh from Japan.

It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on, from the way K had Hank on the ground to the look on Tony's face or the mark on Jan's or the obvious fear on Clint's as he kept trying to get Jan _away_ from Hank.

"The hell happened?" Logan asked, though from his expression, it was obvious he had a fair idea — and he was just looking for confirmation. He dropped his bag at his feet and started forward slowly, waiting for someone to explain.

"I told him not to touch her," Clint said angrily — since K clearly wasn't communicating well at that point. He was still half standing in front of Jan, though by that time, Tony had gotten there to put a hand on Jan's back and try to direct her — and Clint — away from the fight already unfolding ... if you could call it a fight.

"Jan?" Logan said quietly. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Jan said softly, though she didn't seem to have noticed that Clint was now holding her hand. "Really."

Logan tipped his head to watch Clint and get his attention before he signed out: _get her out of here._

Clint nodded at that and gave Jan's hand a squeeze. "I'm getting you some ice, okay?" he said, and with Tony pushing and Clint pulling, Jan eventually got out of the room.

Logan took a few steps toward K, who was making a point to hit Hank any time he tried to push her away or even step past her. "I think you made your point," he said quietly. "Maybe — just for a second — calm down so you can tell me what happened." He looked at the scowl on Hank's face. "Then if he's still being an idiot, I'll close the door on my way out."

"She's overreacting," Hank spat out.

K gestured to Hank with one hand. " _Jag kommer inte lugna mig forden_ idioten."

"I don't know Swedish," Logan said. "It's not for him. It's for me."

She let out another frustrated sound and turned on her heel to get away from Hank, hoping that distance would do her some good. Which left Logan alone with Hank for a moment. The two men watched her head off, still muttering in Swedish under her breath. But the moment that Hank opened his mouth to say something, Logan grabbed a hold of him by the throat and slammed him against the nearest wall. "I'm not sure what she was telling you, but let me make it plain: you so much as look at anyone cross-eyed around here — especially Jan — and I'll throw your ass through the window."

"We just—"

"I don't care."

Hank glared for a moment and then let out a noise. "Fine." He shook his head. "Fine. I didn't want to be in a crowd anyway."

Logan let him go and took a step back, still unblinking as he watched him straighten himself up.

* * *

In the meantime, K had gone down to the kitchen, where Clint and Tony were trying to help Jan. Seeing her at least being attended to by someone that was being _gentle_ started to take the edge off, and after she let out a long breath, K made her way over to get a cup of coffee before she sat down across from Jan, watching her and looking for anything _else_ that had gone wrong.

Jan looked up when K came in and frowned. "Where's Hank?"

K paused and shook her head. "Logan."

"Logan won't let him get off the hook," Clint said. "He's got a problem with people who hit kids and girls. He told me so."

Jan nodded softly. "Yeah, I know." She shook her head, the shock slowly transitioning into anger, especially seeing how upset K was and how Clint was still clearly not okay, with a frenetic sort of nervous energy. "I'm fine, guys. He's just — he's lucky I didn't have my suit on."

" _Skitstövel_ ," K muttered.

Clint giggled. "Oooh, I know that one too. It's naughty."

"Taught him yes, no, and swear words, I see," Tony said, smirking and shaking his head even as he handed Jan an ice pack.

"Basics," K said finally — though her accent was easy to hear.

"Yeah, good to have you back," Tony said. "Too bad Thor wasn't there to translate…"

"I was here … I just get … tongue-twisted." K pointed a finger his way. "Hush."

"It was pretty spectacular," Tony said. "Not that I blame you, mind you." He sat down beside Jan, still with a hand on her shoulder as she kept glaring harder and harder.

"I try not to get that mad," K said.

Clint nodded, though he wasn't moving from Jan's side either. "And when you do… look out," he said.

"Sorry," she said, mostly to Clint.

"I'm okay," he said, though she knew he was lying by the fact that he was shaking a little, enough that he couldn't sign.

K got up and sat on Clint's other side and rested a hand on the center of his back, and he leaned into her a bit, still holding tight to Jan's hand — which was clearly helping him more than her.

"I'm sorry, Clint," Jan said, her eyes flashing. "I'm sorry you got in the middle. He shouldn't have—"

"He shouldn'ta hit you," Clint insisted, his chin up and his eyes flashing to match hers.

"And you shouldn't need your suit to defend yourself," K said quietly.

Clint nodded. "Mom says it's important to be able to do stuff without weapons. Like… like kicking people in the shin."

Jan couldn't help but smile. "I know how to do that much. Steve makes us train for just about anything."

Logan came in a short moment later, and when he did, he was quick to give K a kiss and messed up Clint's hair before he even said hello. "That was kinda cute … the whole … no English thing."

K gave him a dry look at that. "Oh, shut up."

"He's not wrong," Tony said with a smirk.

"Now you're just trying to piss me off to do it again," K accused him, though she leaned on Logan as she said it.

"WIll it work?" Tony asked. "Because I'm not willing to hit anyone to get you there, but if I can talk you into it…" He smirked and let the sentence hang.

"It's a lot harder to do," she said, smirking right back and shaking her head. "You're horrible."

"Yeah, but not a _skitstövel_ ," he said, in a passable imitation.

"I wasn't talking about you, _snuskhummer_ ," she said, chuckling to herself.

"What's that one?" Clint asked.

"You want the literal translation or the rough one?" K asked.

"Ummm, both?"

She sighed. "The basic intention behind it is 'pervert', but actual word for word, it's 'dirty lobster.'"

"Kinda fitting," Jan said with a small smile Tony's way. "Red armor, dirty boy…"

K gestured toward him. "See?"

Tony just shook his head, still laughing to himself. "I won't argue it — _only_ because Jan likes it."

Clint smiled and leaned over to Jan. "I betcha you could ask for anything right now and you'd get it," he teased.

"That would be taking advantage," Jan whispered back.

"So?"

Jan laughed and ruffled his hair. "Aww, I love you too, Clint."

Clint grinned and leaned back slightly, finally letting go of her hand to snuggle into K and close his eyes. "I don't wanna stay here if Hank's staying," he whispered to K.

"School starts soon anyhow," K said as she rested her hand on his head.

"Can we bring Jan too?"

"That's up to her," K said. "But I could teach her some Swedish if she came …"

"We should take her anyway," Clint said. "If she stays with Hank… he'll do it again, I know he will, Mom."

"I don't think Tony or Steve or Thor would allow it." K said.

"That's right we won't," Tony said, his tone a little harder than Clint was used to hearing. "Soon as we're done here, I'm locking him out of my labs."

"I already had a couple words with him," Logan said.

"Probably scared him," Clint said, smiling up at Logan without picking his head up much from where he was snuggled into K.

"Little ol' me?" Logan said, shaking his head. "No."

Clint smirked. "Uh-huh." He put his head back down and snuggled into K's side, obviously shaken but not about to run anywhere — not when he was also trying to help Jan too.

…..

Translations from Swedish:

" _Vad är det for fel med dig?" -_ "What's wrong with you?"

" _Har du en döds önskan?_ " - "Do you have a death wish?"

" _Nej, det är det inte. Du gjorde inte något fel._ " - "No it's not. You didn't do anything wrong."

" _Jag kommer inte lugna mig forden_ idioten." _-_ "I won't calm down for this idiot."


	11. The Tower Doesn't Quite Feel Safe Anymor

**Notes: Omg griezz, your review made me grin so hard. I agree; Clint standing up to Hank was SO fun to write because we know how terrifying that was or him and we as readers know that he had to be on the verge of total meltdown-scared. That's what makes him one of my favorite heroes, honestly: he is never one to back down, no matter the odds.**

 **CC, I agree with you: Logan flirting with K is hilarious and makes me laugh and he's such a goon (but in a good way!).**

 **And Arly: Seriously! Jan and Jean are WAY too much fun to write when they get together. That must be why they aren't friends in the comics: the world can't handle them together!**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: The Tower Doesn't Quite Feel Safe Anymore**

* * *

With a little time, Clint was just starting to calm down properly. It was obvious that seeing Hank hit Jan had triggered some real anxiety, but he was finally breathing easier... when the alarms started going off.

"The hell is _that_?" Logan said.

Tony got to his feet quickly, looking deadly serious. "Alright. K, Clint, I need you to get to Logan's room. That's my early warning system." He looked annoyed. "Our unwanted guest is trying to get out."

"Wait … _what_?" K said, "Creed's breaking out and you want me to go hide in a room … with no defenses?"

"Hey, give me credit," Tony said. "I've updated the hallway leading to the room with what I saw from your little runthrough of my systems. Not to mention, he hasn't actually _broken out_ yet — that's just the early warning that he beat _one_ of my systems." He gestured to Jan. "Wasp, get them out of here. No one wants to deal with another idiot blonde this morning."

Logan was on his feet at that. "I'll go see if he's just rattlin' his cage," he said.

"I'll stick with Clint and K," Jan promised, already unconsciously reaching for Clint's hand as they got to their feet.

K had a hold of Clint's other hand as they headed down to Logan's room. They were barely in there long enough for Jan to start to take stock of everything when a second alarm went off, too. "Okay. I'm not waiting for the third time around," K said, climbing up on the headboard to move the grate covering the duct. "Come on, Clint …"

Clint grinned and nodded, pulling on Jan's hand. "Come on — this is our secret escape plan."

"You… you're hiding in the walls?" Jan looked like she couldn't decide if it was a brilliant plan or a crazy one.

"You don't think that I was going to just … totally leave it to everyone else, did you?" K said. "Come on … you're our official Avenger. Let's go. Clint will explain the marks as we go."

Jan shook her head, though the disbelieving smile just kept growing the more she saw of their system — and she laughed outright when she saw some of the names written out on the walls. "Oh, you two had way too much fun in here."

"And now you can, too," K said. "It's a great place to hide. And the bigger types can't get in."

"Which means _someone_ can't get his big ugly butt in," Clint said with a proud little sneer.

"Makes perfect sense," Jan agreed.

They were deeply into the system when they started to hear sounds of the fight. "It carries through the ductwork," K said quietly.

Jan nodded, a bit more subdued this time now that they could hear both Logan and Creed snarling at each other — as well as the telltale clang of a few strikes of Steve's shield and the whine of repulsors. "Bad time for Thor to be on a breakfast date."

"It won't last long," K whispered back. "Logan could take him down on his own.… With those two kicking in … done deal."

Clint nodded. "Logan can handle that guy," he said quietly. "But I don't like getting in the middle, so we stay here."

Jan nodded. "Yeah… you really shouldn't get in the middle of anything, Clint."

Clint shook his head. "Not sorry."

"Just means he cares about you," K said.

"Yeah, I got that much," Jan said. In the small space, she could only put a hand on Clint's arm but not hug him. "You're lucky you saw him first, K, or I'd totally claim him."

"That's okay; I like the mom I got," Clint said with a small smile.

"And I'd fight you for him," K said with a teasing sort of smirk.

"Oh no; I'd so lose that fight," Jan said. "Especially since I wouldn't be able to _understand_ you to do the battle snark properly."

K couldn't help but chuckle quietly at that. "Only if you pissed me off first."

"Well, I'm stealing your boy…"

"You wouldn't have a chance," she laughed softly, though the sounds of the fight had turned into a lot of snarls and swearing and threats from Creed. "Sounds like it's not going his way. Oh darn."

Clint nodded. "He'll just haveta get used to being wrong."

"All the same," K said, "let's go down to that interchange I found for you to park it, huh? Wait for the all-clear."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, then we can hear everything and we got more space to move around."

"You have this whole thing memorized, don't you?" Jan asked K.

"Well … mostly. But there are signs on the walls if you look," K said. "Symbols."

"Yeah, I saw the glitter beard for Tony," Jan giggled. "That's my favorite."

"There are general signs too," K said. "Marks that say which paths aren't safe."

"The ones that go to Sabretooth's area of the tower have big skulls and crossbones and 'danger Will Robinson' on them," Clint said. "Mom let me watch that show, and it was funny."

"The robot's the best part," Jan agreed.

When they got to the junction, the three of them settled in cross-legged and listened in to the fight continue — with Cap swearing this time. Only it quickly became clear that he wasn't swearing at Creed — the snarls had faded off — but was looking for the three of them.

"I thought you said he couldn't find them!" Cap shouted at Tony.

"He _can't_ get to them. As soon as that door closed, I had it rigged with the same system that stopped her in the lab!" Tony shouted back.

"They're not _there_ , Stark!"

"Sounds like something went wrong," K said quietly before she tipped her chin toward Clint. "You two stay here in case that creep is loose. I'll be right back." She started down toward the bedrooms and slipped out back into Logan's room and then cautiously made her way into the living room, where Steve was still livid with Tony. "We're fine … where's Victor?"

Steve spun to face her, then let his shoulders drop. "Logan's dragging him back to the cell. He's down, and I doubt he'll be up before the door's locked. Where have you been?"

"Somewhere safe," she said. "I'll tell you about it after I know that creep's under lock and key."

"I went to tell you he was down," Steve said. "There was a short time he wasn't on our radar… I thought he got to you." He shook his head. "There's a reason we wanted you to stay put."

"And that short time that he was gone was why I had my _own_ safeguards in effect."

"I get that, but none of us knew where you were," Steve insisted. "If he'd told us he had you, how would we have known not to back off?"

"I said I'll tell you about it, _Dad_ ," K said. "And I was listening — if he'd said that, I'd have intervened just like I did now to keep you from freaking out worse than you were."

Steve let out a breath, though Tony was smirking. "I'm curious too — to see how you slipped past us _again_."

"I'll show you," K swore, and a moment later, Logan checked in to tell them Creed was taken care of — and hogtied into a nasty position that would stop him from doing more than just breathing, though that was restricted too, he swore. K looked between Steve and Tony and simply raised her voice. "Okay, Clint … Jan … come on back."

The Avengers glanced at each other with raised eyebrows, but after only a few minutes, they could hear movement and then giggles as Clint slid out of the ductwork — and motioned for Jan to follow him out.

"Surprise," Clint said, wearing a crooked sort of smile.

K shrugged her shoulders up to her ears as she turned toward Tony with a little smile, and he simply started to laugh. "Oh, I see. You took the bug and the duckling into the smallest space you could find!"

"It's very cozy in there," K said, smirking crookedly. "I knew that even if he got out, he wouldn't be able to get to Clint if he was in there."

"I don't think _I_ could get in there," Steve said, starting to smile as well.

K looked him over and tipped her head. "It would be a really tight fit, but you'd have to scrunch your shoulders up a _lot._ "

"They don't do that," Steve teased.

"That's weird," K said, scrunching up her nose. "Logan's more stacked ...and apparently more flexible. How odd."

"Hey now," Steve laughed. "You're biased."

"He likes to dance with me."

"I told you I'd dance with you too — you're just still biased," Steve laughed outright.

"You only said you'd dance after I guilt-tripped you into it," K said. "I'll bet Tony wouldn't need the guilt trip, though."

"You're so right," Tony said, grinning hard.

"Might even try to shimmy into the ductwork," K laughed.

"Depends on the reward at the end of the effort," Tony teased.

"Well, if you need to know the end result to explore …"

"I like to be motivated," Tony said with a smirk.

K couldn't help but chuckle at that. "And I thought you liked to experiment."

Tony's grin only widened. "With the right partner…"

"Mom, can you stop flirting with Iron Man?" Clint said, rolling his eyes. "It's weird."

"Sorry honey; it's fun," K said.

"Is not. It's weird," Clint insisted.

"Fun for me," she argued.

"And for me," Tony put in.

"Yeah, I know it's fun for _you_ ," Clint said, once more rolling his eyes and sticking his tongue out at Tony.

"Tony, do you need Clint and I to tell you about the hiding spots — or do you want Jan to give you a ductwork tour?" K asked sweetly.

Tony looked between them for a moment before he smiled and put a hand on Jan's shoulder. "Think you know it well enough?"

"Oh, even if I didn't, there are street signs," Jan giggled.

"How convenient," K said, doing her best to look surprised by it. "I wonder if there's a picnic spot … Clint? Is there still that Yogi-bear marker?"

Clint nodded. "Uh-huh. I left it there."

"Get to know your building, Tony," K said.

"From the inside out," Jan agreed, smiling even wider.

Tony just chuckled at that, though he did gesture for Jan to lead the way. "Go ahead, little Wasp," he teased. "Steve and Logan have our respective blonde problems in hand — you and I have earned some down time."

"I told Tony I'd handle revoking Hank's access, ID card, the works," Steve explained to K quietly.

"What … does that mean?" K asked, frowning at him.

"It means he won't be an Avenger, and he won't be allowed into the tower or any of the perks — and as I understand it, the same is true of his SI access."

"Oh," she said, looking surprised at that. "I guess that makes sense."

"We're not in the habit of letting abusers stay on a team of _heroes_ , K," Steve said, giving her a look.

"Glad to hear it," she said. "I honestly hadn't thought it through that far …"

"Didn't look like it," Steve said with a small smirk. "Looked more like pure reaction."

"It really was," she admitted.

"I don't blame you," Steve said. "Tony filled me in on what happened."

"Oh, I'm sure it was an entirely accurate and not at all exaggerated account," she said, rolling her eyes.

Steve chuckled. "Well, some of it might have been exaggerated. But I saw the footage — I saw that Clint was there too. And that's just making an already bad situation worse."

"We'll be out of here for him to go to school anyhow," she said. "And that should... I don't know… simplify things."

Steve let out a breath. "I wish I could say I was surprised, but…." He sighed again. "Things have been bad between her and Hank for a while. None of us knew it was physical, but…"

"I don't feel bad about it either way," K said. "One time or ongoing … that's not … that's not alright."

"I know, and I agree. I just meant that I'm sorry it happened in front of Clint and that we didn't know to stop it earlier," Steve said. "I know the history there. And this is supposed to be a place he can feel safe."

K looked over to where Clint was on the other side of the room before she turned back to Steve. "He will feel a lot safer if you tell him exactly what you told me. It'd build trust in all of you here, too."

Steve nodded. "I will, then," he said. "I don't want the Avengers to ever be a team that scares kids. _Any_ kid."

"I think you've got it covered," K said, then turned to catch Logan as he came in.

"Need a hand, Cap?" Logan asked.

Steve shook his head with a small smile. "We've got things covered here. I was just going to talk to Clint — I'll let you two work out when you want to move back to Westchester." He smirked Logan's way. "I know when I'm in the way."

"You really think you're slowin' things down?" Logan asked with a little scoff.

Steve laughed outright and held up his hands. "Far be it from me to be that wrong."

Logan took K by the shoulders and headed off toward the kitchen to give Steve a chance to have a quiet word with Clint — while nearby, Jan and Tony were snickering as he tried to wedge himself into the ductwork.

* * *

Clint couldn't help but grin when he, Logan, K, and Sicem got to the institute — especially since Sicem took off running as soon as they arrived to take advantage of the huge grounds… and the chance to play with the students that always spoiled him.

Clint giggled. "I think Sicem missed it here," he told Logan and K.

"He likes to be _outside_ , in the _grass_ ," K pointed out. "That was hard to come by in the city."

"Even though he got to play with Thor all the time," Clint giggled. He glanced up at the adults before he grinned and then rushed off at full speed to join Sicem — and it was no time at all before they could hear Clint laughing as Kitty and Jubilee both played with him.

"I think _you_ missed it too," K said.

"Maybe!" he called back, which had Kitty chuckling too.

"I guess it's time you came up with your wish list for Scott for that class of yours," Logan said, catching K's attention. "Barn's waitin'."

She gave him a troublemaking sort of look before they headed down to take stock of things ... and honestly hide out for a while... though Clint was having too much fun to take too much notice.

"You guys shoulda seen Thor!" Clint said, his eyes wide as he grinned at Kitty and Jubilee. "He can take down Sabretooth easy — _and_ he likes my cereals!"

"Sounds like someone has a favorite Avenger," Kitty said with a smile.

Clint grinned. "Yeah, I like him. And I like the Wasp — she's pretty cool too."

"I like Thor best too," Kitty said, smirking. "I tried to get Logan to introduce me, but he said no."

"I bet he'd like you," Clint said. "He likes anybody who stands up to bullies, and that's, like, the whole _point_ of the X-Men, right?"

"It really is," Kitty agreed. "And we're really good at it."

Clint nodded. "I wanna be an Avenger when I get bigger, but maybe I could be an X-Man too like Logan does."

"And Beast. Don't forget he's both, too," Kitty said. She leaned forward, and it was obvious that she and Jubilee were just dying for stories. "So … how cool was it to live in the tower?"

Clint grinned widely. "It was so cool! I liked going up on the roof because you can see the _whole_ city forever away!"

"So jealous!" Jubilee said. "All we did was swim by the pool … and go on a few pick-up runs to help teenagers …"

"Oooh, new kids?" Clint said. "Are they cool?"

She shrugged. "Some of them are cool, but … they're also a little weird. Even by our standards."

Clint raised both eyebrows. "Really? That's pretty cool, though. I mean… if you find someone you never seen."

"Oh yeah, and we do that a lot, too," Kitty said.

"Did you find anyone my age?"

"No, we didn't," Kitty said. "Younger people are a lot harder to come across, but you never know when it'll happen."

Clint nodded. "Well… what about Barney's age? He's eleven, you know, and Mom says he can come here for school when the circus season is over."

"Yeah, we get a lot of kids his age," Kitty said, nodding. "That's when a lot of people start getting powers? So … you know... a lot of them end up getting like … kicked out."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, people kick kids out for stupid reasons, especially if they already don't got families."

"Well, we get a lot of kids that do have families … and they get mad because they're mutants," Kitty said quietly.

"I can go kick 'em in the balls," Clint offered. "It won't fix stupid, but it's nice to know they got… they got karma."

"They'll get it sooner or later if they haven't already," Kitty said. "But … hey. The pool is still warm. Do you want to go swimming?"

Clint grinned and nodded. "Yeah! I want to go to the lake too — before everyone gets here for the school year and it's even more crowded."

"You have a little bit of time," Kitty said. "People won't start trickling in to stay for another week anyhow."

"Then we got lots to do in a week," Clint said.


	12. Barney Looks Out for the Women

**Notes: CC: Yeah, Tony and Cap are THE Good Guys, come on. The Avengers are heroes at heart, so the idea that they'd let Hank stay after that nonsense? Come ON. No way.**

 **And Sweet Arly, I couldn't stand to leave you hanging for too long! Here is a chapter just for you!**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Barney Is Looking Out For The Women In His Life**

* * *

"Are you excited to see your brother give Miranda away?" K asked Clint quietly.

Clint shrugged. He hadn't really been giving the wedding as much thought when he'd been counting down the weeks until Barney got to live at the school with them, but now that he was wearing the nicest tux he'd ever even _owned,_ he supposed he _should_ think about that…

"I dunno," he said. "I think it's pretty cool... but I think he's more happy about it than me." He grinned up at K. "Ana said she'd be his dance."

"Yeah? Are you going to dance too?" She pulled him over to straighten out his hair a little better — a total change from the usual — and then she started to tie his bowtie for him. "You'll have to figure out how to do this."

Clint made a face. "I don't like 'em. It feels like being strangled."

"Yeah, Logan said he hates them too, but he still wears them when he needs to," she said. "Not going to complain at all that girls get the pretty dresses and heels."

Clint shook his head. "Kitty says heels can be painful though. So she said a suit's nothing to complain about."

"She just doesn't know how to walk right in them," K said. "Or she's wearing the wrong size. Heels are easy."

"Well, she's not much older than Barney, so maybe she just hasn't learned that yet,"Clint offered.

"That's what I'm getting at," K said. "But there's nothing wrong with heels. I'm just as fast in them than I am out of them."

"Yeah, but you're good at everything," Clint pointed out.

"Only because I've practiced," she said, booping his nose.

Clint grinned and then kissed her cheek. "I'm more excited about Barney living with us for a while," he admitted. "I like having my family together."

"I hope he likes it there," K said.

"Well, he's got kids his age there," Clint said. "I asked Jubilee and Kitty if they'd help him meet some of the new kids, because I think they need friends too."

"Oh, then he'll know half the school before lunchtime on the first day he's here," K said. She leaned back and gave Clint one final once-over. "You, my darling boy, are as perfect as you can be."

"You say silly things, Mom," Clint said, batting her hand away.

"I say things that are right — and you don't know how to just smile and say thanks when it's about how handsome you are. Yet."

"That's because you just like my duck fluff," Clint said, shaking his head at her, though she did catch him shooting a glance at the mirror to see how he looked too.

She shook her head at him and put on a swipe of lipstick. "Lets go. I'm sure we'll need to find a good spot to watch Barney grin."

Clint grinned and nodded, offering her his arm the way Jean had showed him before they left. He was almost as tall as K anyway, and he wanted to be a good escort. "Will you dance with me? Storm showed me _some_ stuff."

"I'd love to," K said as she took his arm and smiled. "And I'll show you a few things, too."

"'Cause you know everything," he agreed, nodding seriously.

"Because I am old and have been around forever," she argued.

Clint giggled. "You're really bad at hearing nice things too, Mom."

"I am. Guess it's something we share," she said.

"Family trait," he agreed, kissing her cheek as they headed off to sit together.

Logan was waiting for them — K had invited him as a 'plus one' — and the other carnies were shooting them questioning looks, obviously wondering who the new addition was.

They didn't ask outright, though — not when there was something else to be focused on. Paul was in the full coattails look, but K had to smirk when she saw that Miranda, too, was in full coattails — basically an all-white version of her showy swordswoman look but with longer tails and high-heeled boots. And Barney looked amazing beside her, too, totally proud as he strutted beside her in a purple-lined tuxedo.

"That's our Aunt Miranda," Clint whispered to Logan. "That's what we're calling her because one time? She pretended to be our Romanian aunt so the bad guys were real confused."

"She sounds like a pretty smart cookie," Logan said back, sure to watch that Clint was able to read his lips.

Clint grinned and nodded. "They almost adopted Barney, but Mom wanted him," he explained. "I think that's pretty great, especially because Barney's eleven, and most people don't want kids after they're ten."

"Most adults are idiots," Logan said.

Clint hid his little giggle behind his hand as he nodded his agreement. "Uh-huh," he whispered back, though he didn't say anything else once Barney got Miranda to Paul and the two of them looked like mirror images of each other — Paul in black and Miranda in white. Jan would have loved the design of it.

It was a quiet, sweet ceremony, and when the two of them shared a kiss, everyone in attendance cheered — and Barney came running over to them with a grin.

"They're gonna go to the Bahamas now that they're married — isn't that so cool?" he said, then paused when he saw Logan. "You're not Kurt."

"No, I'm not," he said before he couldn't help but smirk. "I'm Logan, and you gotta be Barney."

Barney nodded. "Yeah, that's me," he said, holding his hand out. "What happened to Kurt? I thought for sure K would bring him because it's a circus group."

"Nothing happened to Kurt," K said. "I wanted to go with Logan."

"She likes dancing with him," Clint muttered to Barney.

Barney's eyebrows shot up, and then he started to very slowly nod. "Oh, got it. You're the guy she's dating." He tipped his head to the side and looked Logan over a little more critically. "You better be nice to her, because me and Clint are good with all kinds of weapons if you're not."

"Got it," Logan said, smirking to himself. "Don't gotta worry about that, though."

Clint tugged on Barney's sleeve and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "He's got problems with people who hit kids and girls, so he knows what the deal is."

Barney nodded. "Good, 'cause I'm not losing another mom," he whispered — quiet enough that he didn't know Logan would have been able to hear it.

Clint gave him a serious look. "Yeah, that ain't happening, I promise."

Barney nodded and then took a deep breath, set his shoulders, and shot a grin K's way. "Okay, come on — there's dancing and stuff and also cake. It's chocolate on chocolate, which is my favorite."

"I know," she said. "So what's on the top of your list?" She gave Logan's arm a little squeeze and took the few steps to take Barney's. "Your lead, kiddo."

Barney grinned. "Well, Paul and Miranda gotta dance first, and then I'm supposed to dance with her too. And then we can all dance with whoever we want or we can just eat cake." He paused. "But I gotta save a dance for Ana, because I promised I would."

"If it's like any other wedding I've been to, there will be plenty of time for all of that," K said. "But you're the one that knows where we're headed."

Barney grinned as he lead the way to where the rest of the group was gathered, with Clint shaking his head and walking behind them with Logan.

"I dunno why he's so excited," Clint told Logan. "It's just _dancing_."

"You'll like it more when you're older," Logan said.

"That's what Mom says — and Jean and Storm," Clint said. "But they also keep saying I'm a lady killer, and that's just _not_ true."

"Not yet, give it a few years and a couple pining little girls," Logan told him.

Clint shrugged. "If you say so," he said, though it was clear he didn't believe Logan. Still, he did have to smile when the dancing started and Paul and Miranda did look _really_ happy, so it was hard to boo-hoo the dancing part if everyone was having fun.

Of course, Barney was having a blast, because he was in high demand. After dancing with Miranda, he took a turn with Ana before he bounced over to K. "Wanna dance with me?" he asked. "Ana's dancing with her dad."

"Sure," K said, though she took a second to kiss both Clint and Logan on the cheek before she went with him. "So. Tell me about Ana."

Barney turned a bit pink but nodded. "She's really cool," he said. "She's an acrobat, but she's actually really shy when she's not performing, so sometimes we just sit around and play cards and stuff. She likes quiet things."

"I like her already," K said.

"What about you?" Barney said. "Clint just says Logan's not gonna be mean to you, but that's not much to go on."

"He's a good guy," K said. "I like him. What do you need to know?"

"I dunno… I don't even know where he came from or how you met him or nothing."

"He was in the group that got us away from those idiots chasing me," K told him. "So that … answers most of that, I think. Though, he's Canadian, so … that's a negative."

Barney scrunched his nose up. "Why's that bad? We got some of those in the show."

"They're too _nice_ ," she teased. "I'm just being a pain. I like to pick on him about it. I made him say please and thank you to get his tools when I helped him with his motorcycle."

Barney grinned at that, though, because he knew if Logan could take some teasing then he was alright. "Okay, well, then… does he have powers?" he asked. "If he's on the team with all the mutants and stuff like Clint was talking about…"

"He's on a couple teams, and yes, he does have powers. He's … actually more or less like me," K said.

"So he heals?"

"And the other stuff," K said. "But I look better doing it … so."

Barney had to smirk at that. "Yeah," he said. "So he can listen in when I'm being quiet? Because I told Clint I'd kill him if he was bad…"

K nodded at that. "He wouldn't take offense to that, Barney. He'd just think you're being careful, that's all."

Barney let his shoulders drop. "Okay, good. I just want you to be okay. You're real important to Clint, you know," he said, dropping her gaze.

"That brings the count to _three_ of you guys that have that outlook," K said quietly.

"Oh, that's good," Barney said. "I'm glad he — that's good."

"He teaches at the school," K said.

"What's he teach?" Barney asked.

"History, Combat, and Self-Defense," K said. "Might be other things if it's warranted, but … that's what I know is the regular."

"Do you think he'll be okay with me being in his classes even though I'm your kid?"

"I don't know why he wouldn't," K said. "He gave Clint a knife a while back."

"Good, because I'm excited about self-defense and stuff." He paused. "But I'm not easy to buy if he wants to get with you, just so you know. I don't do that."

She smiled at that. "No, that knife was for his self-defense. It was a necessary thing. I'm _pretty sure_ Clint told you about it when we came by with Kurt."

"Oooh, right," Barney grinned. "He was real proud of how he helped to take the bad guy down." He leaned in closer. "I think he could be a hero too, but don't tell him that, or he'll get a big head."

"He already wants to be a hero," K said. "And they're encouraging him to do it, too." She smiled. "All of the teachers are on the team, so they know how to direct the kids that want to try that."

"Well, I don't think I could do that and be a ringmaster," Barney said. "That's what _I_ want to do, you know. I bet I'd be good at it."

"You'll be amazing," she agreed.

He looked even prouder as he leaned in. "Paul says I could take over for him when he and Miranda have kids and then he can just be a dad," he whispered. "But Miranda doesn't know that because she doesn't want kids yet, so don't tell nobody."

"I won't," K chuckled. "I promise."

Barney smiled again as the song came to a close and then offered her his arm. "Okay, you can dance with your date if you want," he said. "Thanks for dancing with me."

"I think I just might," K said. "And thanks for asking me." She quickly darted over to kiss his cheek — gently, though, so as not to leave a smear of red. "Go get your girl." The two of them headed off the dance floor, and when they got to where Logan and Clint were, Logan took K's hand and swept her right back out into a lot more proper looking dance, leaving the boys together.

"I asked her about Logan," Barney said.

"Yeah?" Clint asked, leaning forward and honestly curious as to how that conversation had gone.

"Yeah, you only told me the stuff about him fighting and stuff. I wanted to know about _him_."

"But the fighting stuff is cooler," Clint pointed out.

Barney smirked. "Yeah, maybe." He tipped his head toward where K and Logan were dancing. "She really likes him, though."

"We gotta keep an eye on them," Clint said.

Barney nodded. "Yeah. I think between us two, we'll be okay, though."

"Probably," Clint agreed, then smirked when he saw that Ana was looking their way. "Your girlfriend wants to dance with you."

"She's not my—"

"Uh-huh." Clint shoved Barney in the arm — toward Ana. "If you're gonna kiss her, don't let Mom catch you, or she'll give you looks all day."

"Hey, I can be sneaky."

"Not as sneaky as Mom."

"If you say so," Barney said, rolling his eyes before he went to go dance with Ana.

The couples were dancing along, most of them doing more of a awkward, quiet sway, though a few like Logan and K, were keeping up a reasonable _honest_ dance. It seemed like K was entirely wrapped up in Logan, and when Barney got a reasonable chance — he did, in fact lean forward to steal a kiss with Ana.

It didn't last long though. Not when there was a wickedly loud and clear wolf whistle that split the air a second into it, followed by K rooting Barney on. He turned bright red, of course, made worse when better than half of the carnies in attendance joined in with the cheers and whistles, though K was cut off when Logan pulled her over for a kiss — followed by a quiet 'give the kid a break' that Clint only read.

Clint was still giggling madly when a red-faced Barney made his way over, looking scandalized. "You said she'd just give me looks!"

"I was wrong," Clint giggled delightedly. "This was so much better."

"I hate you sometimes, Clint."

"No you don't!" Clint said, still laughing and holding onto his stomach as Barney rolled his eyes — and tried very hard to look nonchalant and to just focus on eating some cake instead of dancing.


	13. Too Far

**Notes: CC: Oh yeah, the wedding looked amazing in my head and I may have to add it to the list of things I want to draw, for real. I mean, I do a lot of blogging for wedding photographers, so it's not like I'd be hard up for reference photos...**

 **Arly: Yeah, I wanted to show that there are people outside of the X-Men who are okay with mutants (especially because Book Four is going to be about mutant-human relations shhh spoilers shhhh). I couldn't leave you hanging for too long, but...**

 **I am so, so sorry about this chapter. It's... rough.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Too Far**

* * *

After the wedding, Barney was excited to go back to the cottage with K and Clint for the holidays together before he'd have to start up school. It was close enough to Thanksgiving that they were planning to make a big family trip of it.

Logan had already gone up separately to get things ready at the cabin — and to give K some time with the boys as they took their time saying goodbye to their friends at the circus and got Barney all packed up for the next few months.

Clint was sure to tell Barney all about how much he was going to like the school the whole time they loaded up, though he was starting to tire out from all the excitement. Still, he wasn't about to stop anytime soon. "We should all make s'mores tonight," he told K. "We gotta get groceries anyway, right? We should get marshmallows and stuff while we're there."

"We do," she agreed. "Steaks … sweet stuff … yes."

"Not gonna lie; I'm looking forward to home-cooked stuff," Barney said with a smile. "Rock candy and popcorn gets old after a while."

"Yeah, nothing fried, don't worry," K said with a little laugh.

"Oh good. At this point, I'm pretty sure my blood is half batter," he teased right back.

"That's what happens when you insist on sucking down a dozen corn dogs at a shot," she said, not missing a beat. "I can't believe it, but I think _I'm_ gonna have to introduce you to something called 'vegetables'. I've heard they're good for you, but you know …"

"I think they're made up," Barney said without missing a beat.

"Yeah, definitely fictional," K agreed.

"Except for pumpkins," Clint put in. "And pumpkin pie."

"Okay, fair," Barney laughed.

The bulk of the drive north was quiet, and after the comedown of adrenaline from the wedding and the kiss and everything, Barney even fell asleep for a while. They were covering ground and working their way north at a good clip, and by the time they finally rolled in to the town nearest her cottage, it was dark out.

"Just a minute to grab some groceries," K said before she poked Barney in the shoulder. "You need to pick out a few things you've been missing too, mister."

Barney smiled shyly at that. "Well, uh, it would be nice to have those loaded potatoes…"

"You got it," she agreed, and the three of them headed in to shop.

Barney tipped his head when he saw that K had picked up four steaks. "So… he's sticking around?"

"Yes … he is. He's been splitting wood, I'm sure. He wanted to make sure the cabin was warm and save you two some work …"

"I like him already," Barney teased.

Clint grinned. "He's real strong."

"Well, good. Then he can have the wood chopping forever," Barney chuckled.

"He wouldn't mind it," K said as they paid for their things and headed back to the jeep. The boys helped load up, and K closed the back door as the two of them roughhoused in the parking lot for a moment, shoving each other in the shoulder a few times — especially when Clint started teasing Barney about his 'girlfriend'.

K whistled for Sicem as the boys screwed around. It had been a long day of travel for everyone, and she was sure the dog was more than happy to stretch his legs out. But the boys' little teasing shoves turned into a full-blown wrestling match as they waited for Sicem — not paying attention in the least to the lack of sound around the trees. They missed the fact that K had frozen entirely, though, and was staring beyond the parking lot, looking for something in the slowly darkening trees.

"Boys," K said quietly, almost over a breath. "Get in the car."

Both of them froze at the tone K was using and glanced over at her. Clint quickly let go of Barney and rushed to the car, with Barney only a few steps behind. Barney yanked open the door to all but jump into the passenger's seat, but before Clint could follow him, he heard his brother let out a strangled sort of sound.

"Clint — no—" Barney started to say, but Clint had already climbed in and saw what had stopped Barney: Sicem was in the front seat, but he wasn't moving. And there was a lot of blood…

Clint scrambled back so fast that he ended up falling back on his backside, his eyes wide and a look of pure shock painted on his face; he couldn't get his breath right in his chest.

K turned their way as the wind shifted, and she finally caught the scent of blood in the air. She swore outright and turned to Barney. "Get _out of here_."

Barney started swearing as he closed his eyes and tried to move Sicem out of the front seat so that Clint wouldn't see him. "C'mon, Clint," he called out, glancing over his shoulder to see that Clint was still sitting on the ground where he'd fallen. He swore again and started to climb back over to get Clint — when the door slammed shut in his face, leaving him inside and Clint outside.

Barney let out a surprised sort of gasp when he saw the huge blonde smirk at him and turn toward Clint, who was almost crab walking back away from him.

K made a rush at Creed, if nothing else to try and draw him away from Clint, growling all the while when she sunk her claws into his side, but that really only got a roar from Creed that rattled the windows of the Jeep as he backhanded her aside.

"Don't you touch her!" Clint shouted — a split second before Barney shouted more or less the same thing, heard through the back window of the truck as he tried unsuccessfully to open the door where it was now fairly jammed.

For a moment, Creed _did_ stop — but only long enough to glance between the brothers through narrowed eyes and then growl. He reached over and snatched up Clint with one hand, tucking him under one arm as he turned back to K, swearing at her and calling her every name in the book as he got closer — plainly furious with her now that it was clear, considering Barney's age, that Clint wasn't his. To hear him snarl, it was clear he was going to pay K back for lying to him — even if it was his own delusion in the first place.

But by that time, Barney had crawled over to get out of the other side of the truck, and when he saw Clint struggling and in actual tears of panic, that was enough for him to throw caution to the wind as he rushed the huge blonde, drawing his sword in a single fluid motion to drive it into Creed's side.

"Don't. Touch. My. Brother," Barney bit out as he twisted the sword for good measure.

Creed snarled at the action and turned faster than he should have been able to, considering his size. With his free hand, he extended his claws and picked up Barney — sure to graze his chest when he grabbed a handful of his shirt and picked him up to eye level. "This brother?" he said, jostling Clint roughly. "You're gonna come at me with your little pig sticker and tell me what to do, boy?"

Barney looked wide-eyed at the fact that the sword hadn't done any damage, but he tipped his chin up. "Nobody gets to put their hands on my little brother," he said.

Creed smirked crookedly — showcasing his overly large lower canines for an instant. "I had a brother once. Two of 'em." He leaned closer so that every breath was moving Barney's bangs. "Killed one of 'em for fun."

Barney was totally silent as he cringed away from Creed, shocked into silence and honestly scared for the first time since Jacques had died.

"Put him down," Clint said, squirming and trying to get leverage to get free.

"Let them go," K said as she got to her feet and squaring up with him. "They have nothing to do with you."

"No," Creed drawled out.

She tipped her chin down and headed for him, taking just a moment to pull Barney's sword out of Creed's side and then sink it right back into him just below the belt. "Can't hold on to both of them and not bleed, Victor."

He growled lower at her, and she took a chance at stabbing him again with her claws — higher and clearly in an effort to cut through something that would force him to let go — but he wasn't about to let her get away with it.

She was just pulling her hand back to hit him again when he tossed Barney halfway across the lot and then grabbed her by the throat. He took her right to the ground and pinned her one-handed, squeezing the breath out of her and kneeling on one of her hands as she abandoned trying to stab him and instead tried to get him to loosen his grip.

Clint was swearing at him, yelling at him to stop, which was what Barney heard when he got his senses back and picked his head up to see the situation — and quickly realized that this was just not something that he was equipped to handle. The guy had been stabbed, like, how many times now and was still going strong?

He swallowed hard and then took off running for the Jeep, grabbing the keys from the purse K had dropped nearby and peeling out in a rush — since he did at least know where there was a hero close by.

* * *

Logan was, as K had predicted, working around the cottage. He'd stopped when there was a solid rick of wood split and stacked under the porch's overhang and had moved on to a few repairs that the place needed. Nothing big — but he didn't want to go deer hunting and have some kid come back to a dead deer in a tree. Especially since he didn't know much about this one outside of the fact that Clint thought he hung the moon.

When he heard the Jeep coming down the two-track, he let out a breath and climbed down from the roof, only just brushing off his hands on his pants legs when the Jeep skidded to a stop and jackrabbited when the clutch wasn't pushed in all the way. "The hell …" He frowned deeply and started toward the Jeep, though he didn't make it more than a few steps before Barney stumbled out of the driver's seat.

It was plain to see that he was in trouble, from the blood on his shirt and hands to the fact that he was as pale as death and hyperventilating as he rushed over to Logan.

"What happened?" Logan asked as he got a hold of the kid's arm to halfway hold him up, though he made a face when he caught the scent that was all over Barney. "Where's K and Clint?"

Barney shook his head, panting heavily and looking like he was on the verge of a full-on breakdown. "They're not — this guy — I had to—" He shook his head before he started to cry, despite his best efforts not to.

"Where were they? That's all I need," Logan said.

"The g-grocery store," he said.

Logan nodded at that. "Go on inside. I'll be back."

"But I — I gotta… I can't leave — not again," Barney said, sounding outright devastated.

Logan let out a breath at that. "I can't ask you to go after this guy with me."

"I left him," he said in a breath. "I left him there — I gotta — I can't just—"

Logan had a hold of him by both shoulders. "Take it easy. If you're gonna go, you're gonna be armed. How are you with a rifle?"

"I… I don't really… do guns," he said. "I... I stabbed him and he _walked it off_."

"Alright," Logan said, nodding. "Then I'll make it easy. Forget the rifle. You know where she keeps her shotgun? Go get it."

The boy nodded quickly and halfway stumbled over himself rushing over to get the shotgun, still clearly upset by the time he got back.

Logan had gone to the Jeep and took a moment to find the scents on the Jeep — matched up with the scent clinging to Barney. He started the Jeep up and had it running to go by the time Barney came back with the shotgun and a couple boxes of shells. "You sure you wanna do this?"

Barney nodded, the look of determination familiar to Logan when he'd seen that exact same expression on Clint before.

"Then if you get an open shot on the guy, take it. Don't even think about it if Clint's near him, though."

He shook his head. "Yeah, no. I just… I just want to get my brother," he breathed out.

Logan nodded, and the two of them took off down the two track faster than Barney had even see K book it out of there. When they came up to the paved road finally, Logan barely slowed down to make the turn, barking the tires in the top two gears once he was on pavement. "When we get goin', stay close," Logan warned. "And if I tell you to back off or hide — do it."

Barney nodded quickly. "Yeah, got it."

"Good." Logan said, only slowing down when they got to the parking lot where Sicem was still laid out on the concrete. He parked almost exactly where the Jeep had been before he took a quick couple of spirals out from the Jeep and then whistled at Barney to catch his attention. "Time to move." He barely waited for the kid to catch up before he darted off into the dark trees at a steady clip.

The trail was more or less straight, but as they came up on a drop off, Logan stopped and took a step back, frowning at the somewhat familiar set up. He turned his head and looked a little deeper into the woods — the only real light the full moon overhead. He turned toward Barney and made sure that Barney could see him enough to understand when he held his finger up in front of his lips and then took a hold of his arm to pull him behind him down a different path. "Climb this tree," Logan whispered over Barney's shoulder. "Keep your focus toward any noise you hear. Got it?"

Barney nodded quickly. "Yeah. Got it," he said.

"If I'm right, that clearing down there is gonna light up once I get there. Keep your eyes closed until you hear the jackass shouting."

"Got it," he said again, nodding sharply. "And then we'll get Clint and K, right?"

"Oh yeah," Logan said, nodding. "You might need to get 'em outta here, though."

Barney looked a little paler for a moment before he nodded. "Right. Yeah. Got it," he whispered.

Logan gave him as close to a smirk as he was able. "Then we'll fill you in about this crap later." He waited just long enough to be sure that Barney was making his way up the tree before he turned and darted off silently into the woods, going away from Creed's scent trail to circle around and try to get the lay of the land before he walked into the trap.

He wasn't too surprised to see that he was right on just about every count — or that both Clint and K were tightly bound and gagged, while Victor was anxiously glaring into the trees and waiting. _Be a shame to disappoint_ , Logan thought to himself before he picked up a heavy rock and tossed it right where it looked like the original trail went down the hill.

The crashing got a grin out of Creed, and as he reached for the light, Logan grabbed a hold of Clint and pulled him out of the line of fire. He was crouched down behind a rock with Clint, cutting through the rope, when Creed flicked the floodlights on his hummer on — lighting up the whole cove with bright light.

And then Creed started swearing.

"Stay down, stay hidden," Logan told Clint quietly — as Barney opened fire on Creed. Logan looked over to the clearing and handed Clint a knife, waiting for the obviously shocked boy to acknowledge him and grip the handle before Logan rushed toward Creed _before_ he could go hunting the gunman.

Creed was mid roar when he finally heard a few quick footsteps behind him and turned just in time for Logan to plant a fist full of claws dead center in his chest with a roar of his own. The two of them were in a full out brawl in no time — blood flying both ways, claws cutting through air and flesh as Clint finished cutting himself free.

Clint made his way over to K in a careful crawl, ignoring Logan's advice to stay hidden to instead start cutting through the ropes holding K tight, even if it looked like she was still out, which was only serving to fuel his panic more. He kept glancing up at Logan and Creed to make sure that their fight was far away from them, quietly crying as he tried to get K to respond.

Unlike most of the times that Logan and Creed fought, Logan wasn't rising to Victor's bait, and he wasn't answering any of his goading comments — which honestly ticked off Victor a lot quicker than Logan was expecting him to _get it._ "Finally gonna get heavy on me are you, boy?" Creed growled out as Logan squared up and waited for Creed to come to him.

"You went too far," Logan said, crouching down slightly just before Creed rushed. There was a swipe of claws, and as Logan side-stepped him at the last possible second, he popped his claws and sliced Victor open from his armpit to his hip and tripped him with a half-way done sweep.

The move wasn't perfect, and Logan ended up hitting the ground himself when he wasn't quite clear of Creed as he fell. But that only meant that their fight was a lot more violent and bloody version of what Clint and Barney had been playing with in the parking lot earlier. And again, the little guy was winning — ultimately.

Creed couldn't quite shake Logan's holds. When he got mad and grabbed ahold of Logan's throat with his claws, Logan got ticked off and popped his claws into Creed's chin — straight up and through the top of his head. Which of course, stopped the fight entirely when Creed went totally limp.

Though Logan had to keep a hand over his own throat, as soon as Creed's hand fell from him, he used his free hand to hack off Sabretooth's head and kicked it across the clearing. Then, he let himself drop back into the leaves and broken ferns the rest of the way.

The clearing was silent for a long time before Logan could hear Barney approaching cautiously. "Coast clear?" he called out.

"Yeah," Logan croaked out quietly.

That was all the invitation Barney needed to all but slide down to where Clint and K were — and while Clint had been trying to rouse K, once he saw Barney, that was it. He just grabbed his brother by both shoulders and halfway buried himself in Barney, curling into his brother while Barney tried to apologize for leaving him behind, even if he was a lot worse at words than his brother was and kept stopping and starting.

"'Sokay, Barn," Clint said through his obvious sniffles and nearly silent hiccoughed sobs.

"Yeah," Barney breathed out before he just hugged Clint tighter, trying to be careful where he could see blueish bruises — though Clint was in enough shock that he didn't seem to care either way.

Logan took his time to sit up again, and when he finally could afford to do that much, he got his feet under him and staggered over to where K was — his hand still over his throat even as he crumpled to the ground again to make sure she was just unconscious and nothing more alarming. When he'd established that, he half pulled her over to keep a hand on her while he waited for his throat to stitch the rest of the way.

Barney glanced over the top of Clint's head Logan's way and, in an obvious effort to make Clint laugh, gave Logan a small smile. "So. Um. I guess if you're gonna kill people in Mom's defense, you're okay."

Logan frowned at him and closed his eyes, shaking his head lightly. "He was beggin' for it."

"Right. Yeah. He really was," Barney said before he gently pulled Clint to his feet. "Is she, um… is she okay?"

"Drugged," Logan said. "I'll carry her out." He moved his hand, grimacing as he did so, but when he didn't feel anything but fresh skin, he roughly wiped his hand off on his jeans and then got to his feet with a little groan. "Sooner than later, eh?" He shifted to pick up K and then, as he crossed the span to where the boys were, made a point to kick Creed's head again — a _lot_ harder than he'd done before. "You two gonna hang out here or what?"

Barney shook his head quickly, though he was a little slower than usual when Clint was halfway hanging on him all the way back to the Jeep, and he was starting to get seriously concerned about how quiet Clint was being.

"C'mon, Clint," Barney muttered under his breath, though Clint was doing the same sort of thing he'd done when he went deaf… just staring at the ground and only following instructions

Logan let the boys climb into the Jeep before he settled K into the passenger seat and then climbed in to drive. He took a moment to let out a breath as he started the engine and rubbed his hands over his face. "You boys can clean up first when we get back," Logan said as he finally put it in gear.

Clint nodded, and Barney swallowed as he looked back the way they'd come. "He can't grow another head, can he?" he asked.

"Nope," Logan said. "All the same, once you three are back at the cottage, I gotta come back and deal with this."

Barney nodded, keeping one hand on Clint's shoulder the whole time. "I don't know how to … help K with the drugs?"

"She just needs to sleep it off," Logan said, turning to look over his shoulder. "Nothin' else you can do."

"Oh okay. As long as she'll be okay," Barney said, letting his shoulders drop just a little bit to show his relief before he simply scooted closer to Clint and let his brother hide in a hug for the duration of the drive back to the cottage.


	14. Bury the Past

**Notes: CC, I completely agree with you that I'm singing 'Hail, Hail, the Witch is Dead' with Creed gone here. He is such a jerkwad, and I'm glad to see him permanently out of the way of this happy family.  
**

 **Arly: I know, right? These poor boys are just getting hit left and right and it's just not even fair to them. *wraps around them protectively even though I'm the one directing this train* Still, even with Sabretooth beheading going on, this *is* a lighter universe than other ones. (To be honest, I think this and the 664 universe are the fluffiest, then CC's 907 universe tends toward the fluffy but with a lot of rough as well, with the 714 being sort of the middle ground and then CC's 906 is pretty rough and her "Age of Magneto" is just concentrated evil...)**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Bury the Past**

* * *

When they got back to the cottage, Logan was sure to put K on her bed and double check that the fire was crackling pleasantly before he pulled in the groceries that had been long forgotten and then crouched down by Clint, who was curled in on himself in his brother's shadow on the couch. "I won't be long," he promised before he handed Clint a comm. "If you have any trouble, hit the red button. Kurt will be here in a blink."

Clint nodded wordlessly and clutched the comm a little tighter before Barney nodded over his shoulder. "I got this," he said. "I know how to patch him up."

Logan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Barney. "What about you?"

Barney glanced down at his shirt and finally seemed to realize that there was a lot of blood there. "I can patch me up too. Probably. I think."

Logan shook his head at that and then crossed the kitchen to the sink to wash up — at least up to his elbows — before he came back. "Nothin' doin. Come on. I'll patch you both up first. Nothin' out there is gonna run off on me anyhow."

Barney glanced at Clint, but when Clint didn't seem to have any objections to Logan helping, he shrugged lightly. "Okay," he said, following Logan back to where the two of them could sit down and Logan could get a better look at what he was dealing with.

"Doesn't look like you'll need stitches," Logan said after he got Barney cleaned up. "Little dermabond oughta do it …" He didn't explain before he closed up the wounds "We can get Hank out to make sure it doesn't have a chance of gettin' infected."

"Who's Hank?" Barney asked with his nose scrunched up.

Logan took a deep breath and let half of it out in a woosh. "Right. You haven't met him yet. Goes by Beast. He's a doctor. He's on the X-Men and the Avengers too"

Barney nodded slowly. "Alright," he said, then bit his lip and glanced toward Clint and whispered, "D'you think he can look and see… Clint's real… quiet."

Logan looked over at Clint and nodded very slowly once. "He's in shock," Logan said quietly.

"That's why he's ... "

"Yeah," Logan agreed, then looked around the cottage before he headed over to Clint to start to get him cleaned up too. "Where are you hurt?"

Clint glanced up at Logan for a moment before he swallowed and tapped his side. "He kicked me," he said in a whisper.

"Can I see, or do I need to jump in the lake first?"

Clint shook his head lightly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "No, then you'd have cold hands."

"Natch," he said with a little smirk of his own. "Might wake K up that way, though."

Clint shook his head again and carefully slipped his shirt over his head so Logan could see the tender-looking discoloration there.

"Can you take a big, deep breath?" Logan asked, barely touching the bruises.

Clint glanced at Barney, who nodded, wordlessly watching the whole exchange, before he tried his best to fill his lungs up, his eyes wide when his chest hurt too.

When Logan saw him flinch, he nodded and took a moment to take his comm back from Clint and make a call, not moving from where he was. "Kurt, I need you to bring Big Blue to the cottage. Clint broke a couple ribs."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Kurt promised, sounding honestly concerned.

It only took a few moments before Kurt arrived with Hank, and Barney let out a little yelp of surprise that was covered by the sound of the teleport. And of course, Kurt immediately zeroed in on the fact that Logan was bloody." _Was is los? Du rufst mich hier an, wenn du wie ein Horrorfilm aussiehst_?"

Logan hung his head as soon as Kurt started in. "I killed Creed," Logan said. "It got messy."

"What?" Kurt was staring at him in obvious shock, his tail still behind him. "Logan, _mein Freund_ , this was supposed to be a holiday vacation… what happened?"

"He attacked 'em," Logan said as Hank started to look over Clint. "And if it's all the same to you, I'd like to go back and make sure he can't find some way to come back."

"Yes. Of course." Kurt shook his head quickly, letting out all his breath before he simply seized hold of Logan's arm and teleported off with him, leaving Hank to care for the other three.

Barney was naturally sticking close to Clint as he watched Hank gently look over the bruises there, wincing in sympathy every time Clint did. "Is he gonna be okay?" he asked.

"A few weeks of taking it easy will have him back to full steam," Hank said. "I don't know that they're broken — but they're certainly not very happy." He finished looking at all of the bruises, tutting to himself at the clear pattern where Creed's shoe had left its mark, before he finally produced a Twinkie seemingly out of thin air.

Barney grinned even as Clint knocked the sign for 'thanks' and unwrapped the Twinkie. "Hey, that's pretty good sleight of hand," he said. "You'd be good at magic tricks."

"I'm afraid the only circus I take part in is the one that speaks to Congress from time to time," Hank said with a troublemaking smile.

Barney smirked at that. "Too rich for my blood."

Hank nodded and took a seat across from Clint. "And what about you, my fine young friend? You could only be the famous Barney that I've heard so much about."

"I'm not famous," Barney said, shaking his head.

"We all know your name, so I'll simply be forced to disagree."

Barney shook his head again and looked over at Clint. "Telling stories on me, shorty?"

Clint smiled lightly and nodded. "Good ones," he promised quietly.

Barney rolled his eyes at that. "Little brothers," he told Hank in a conspiratory whisper, earning a little smirk before he excused himself to grab some food and water for the group.

Hank didn't move from his spot — simply keeping watch over the boys until Logan and Kurt returned. But when the two X-Men did come back, they didn't come in the house right away, and it wasn't long before he could clearly hear the sound of digging outside the window. "What on earth are the two of them up to now?"

"I can check," Barney offered, already heading to the window before Hank could respond, only to go sort of still and bite his lip, glancing over at Clint. "Oh." He let his shoulders drop. "They… brought the dog back."

Clint's eyebrows shot up, and before Hank could say anything, he had all but scrambled up to go to the window, his nose nearly touching the glass as he watched Logan and Kurt digging up the earth to bury Sicem. In a flash, he had dashed away from Barney, too, ignoring Hank's warnings to take it easy as he rushed out the door and simply grabbed onto Logan as soon as he made it there, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug.

Logan stopped his digging to put his arm around Clint, hushing him quietly. "Hey. You okay, bud?"

Clint shook his head quietly. "He killed Sicem," he said. "For no reason."

Logan handed his shovel to Kurt and then turned to wrap Clint up in a better hug and just kept him there, careful not to hold him too tight when he was still bruised up. "He was just a mean sack of crap," Logan said.

Clint nodded, rubbing at his eyes with the back of one hand balled in a fist. "Thanks for — for bringing him back," he whispered.

"I could tell you where my first dog is buried — still," Logan said.

"Really?" Clint glanced up at Logan.

Logan nodded at that. "I was smaller than you."

"Wow," Clint said. "I'm real sorry."

"A jerk killed mine too," Logan said. "But you'll always know where he is."

Clint nodded again and put his head back down on Logan's shoulder and stayed put for a long time before he finally straightened up a little and sniffed. "You smell really rotten."

Logan let out a little laugh — nothing compared to the laugh Kurt got out of it though. "Yeah. I'm sure," Logan said, shaking his head. "When I finish up here, I'll clean up. You should do the same."

Clint nodded. "I wanna not smell like jerk when my mom wakes up," he told Logan quietly.

"If you wanna wait until we bury Sicem, you can head in and take a shower."

"Thanks," Clint said, though he took a seat on the porch to watch Logan and Kurt going back at it — somehow in the process winding up with a blanket on his shoulders and Barney at his side, though he wasn't paying enough attention to know when it had happened.

When the hole was deep enough, Logan made his way over to the Jeep and pulled out the old worn plaid blanket that he kept behind the backseat, then wrapped Sicem up before he carried him over to finish up.

Almost as soon as the job was done, Logan and Kurt both stood up straight, and it was clear something was up when Kurt grinned at Clint and Barney just before he took a hold of Logan and then disappeared in a poof of smoke — though the mystery was solved fast when they heard Logan swearing and then a splash a moment after they heard the bamf of a teleport. And another a moment later, Kurt reappeared near the boys.

"He did say he would go in the lake, didn't he?"

Clint started to giggle, and Barney grinned outright. "That's the express ticket to clean," Clint said, smiling up at Kurt.

"But I'd rather not swim in the lake," Barney said, holding up a hand. "I'll take a hot shower. I haven't had one in a while anyway, and I like 'em."

"Then it's good that Logan's had too many of them lately," Kurt said, still grinning at them. "He could use a cold swim." He held up one hand. "I will, however, take a towel to him before you two clean up. No reason to scar you unnecessarily."

"Appreciated," Barney said, helping Clint up to his feet. "Thanks. For… you know. All of it," he added

Kurt didn't answer but to bow deeply before he teleported to the house — and the boys could almost track where he'd gone by the renewed swearing from the other side of the house shortly after.

Barney grinned at Clint as they headed inside. "You have a weird new family," he told Clint in an undertone.

Clint nodded. "Yeah. _We_ do."

Barney shook his head at that. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up," he said, shepherding Clint away from the sound of swearing for the time being.

When the boys got inside, K was up — shaky, but up — and had made her way into the kitchen, with Hank halfway supporting her. "You guys hungry?" she asked quietly. "I can have something done in two shakes."

Clint made a dash away from Barney, stopping just short of crashing into K as he looked her over in obvious alarm. "Mom, you don't look so good," he said.

"I'm fine," she said, resting her hand on his shoulder. "You're the one that has busted up ribs."

"Only 'cause you don't stay busted," he argued.

"See? I'm fine, you just said so yourself," she replied.

Clint shook his head. "We can — we can have Logan make food. You don't gotta be up. I'm just gonna shower off so I don't smell like stupid and then we can — we can make a fire and just… _not_ do anything…"

"S'mores?" she suggested.

Clint nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we can do that."

"You sure this isn't just your way of telling me you like his cooking better?" K teased.

Clint rolled his eyes at that and motioned her down so he could kiss her cheek. "No way," he promised.

She smiled at him for a moment then pulled him into a hug. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Clint glanced up at her for a moment and opened his mouth before he seemed to remember himself and close it. "I don't feel real good," he admitted.

She nodded at that. "Go ahead and clean up, When you get out, I'll be on the couch, okay?"

Clint nodded at that and then hugged her once more. "Love you," he said quietly.

"Love you too, handsome," she said then kissed the top of his head.

Clint gave her arm a quick squeeze before he headed off to get cleaned up — and he and Barney were gone for a long while after that. Barney helped Clint get changed now that the adrenaline and shock was giving way to more exhaustion and Clint was starting to really feel his bruises. But eventually, both of the boys made their way back to where Logan did have some food going.

K was sitting on the couch by the fire, so that's where the boys went. Clint practically crawled into her lap, curled up on his side and still clearly shaken, and Barney didn't think about it before he curled up on her other side.

"You okay?" he whispered.

"Me? I'm always okay," she said. "How about you?"

"I'm okay," he said. "I'm just — I'm just mad." He glanced at Clint, who was still fairly curled up. "I'm mad he got you."

"Logan told me what happened after you two got there," K said. "And he told me what he and Kurt did. I will honestly be surprised if he _can_ come back."

"Good, because… because he… he needs to stay dead," Barney muttered.

"Kurt didn't try to slow Logan down — and he even let a little demon out, so … apparently there are a few fires burning in the woods tonight."

"Oh, is he…. I thought he just _looked_ like a demon," Barney said, his eyes wide.

"Half demon," Logan corrected. "None of the magic, all of the charm."

Barney let out a low whistle and turned slightly to see that Logan was bringing some food over. "Do you want … can I help?"

"Sure," Logan said. "I just don't want her getting up for the night."

"Why?"

"That drug he hit her with is nasty," Logan said. "Made to take down healers. She's gotta clean it out — and that will take some time."

Barney nodded. "That's… not real good."

"No," Logan agreed. "Must not have been the right stuff though — or it was made for me and not her. Otherwise, she'd have forgotten everything before he snatched the two of 'em."

Clint picked his head up a little and bit his lip. "Yeah," he said softly. "He… he wanted her to forget me."

Logan paused and put a hand on Clint's shoulder. "Didn't work."

"Can't forget the gossamer wings," Barney teased lightly. "That's what she tells people at my circus when they ask where she found him."

"Yeah, she's added to it," Logan said. "Gossamer wings and purple cupids."

"Oh, can't forget the purple cupids," Barney said dryly.

"Shuddup, Barn," Clint muttered, curling into K a little better.

"Well she is still groggy," K said. "But she isn't gonna listen to this like she's not here."

Clint giggled at that. "Hi, Mom."

"Hey handsome," she said. "Logan's right. That drug has to be made for each healer. He had the wrong stuff."

"I'm glad," Clint said. "I don't want you to forget me."

"I don't think I could," she said. "They've always had a harder time messing with my non-traumatic memories."

"I think that means she likes us," Barney said with a smirk.

"Well, any memory with adorable Barton boys is a good one," K said.

"Even if it includes a scary blonde?" Barney asked.

"What scary blonde?" K said. "The dead one? Not a problem."

"Yeah, Logan kicked his butt," Clint said softly.

"She gets mad and switches to Swedish," Logan said with a smirk. "I get mad and turn on the _good_ training… sometimes."

"I get mad and throw things," Barney said. "Clint just gets sort of quiet and turns all red."

 _I like Logan's better,_ Clint signed, still with his head in K's lap while she gently played with his hair.

"Yeah, you would,' Barney said. "Seeing as that's what saved our butts."

Clint nodded quietly at that but didn't say anything further — not when there was food to focus on. And after a good meal, both boys were starting to feel tired, even if it was clear that they didn't want to go anywhere.

Eventually, both of them drifted off, using K as a pillow between them, and K simply shifted so that she was comfortable to snuggle up with the boys as well.

…

Translation from German:

" _Was is los? Du rufst mich hier an, wenn du wie ein Horrorfilm aussiehst_?" - "What is going on? You call me here looking like a horror movie?"


	15. Better With Friends

**Notes: Griezz, I hear you. *snuggles you and gives you cookies* that was a rough one.**

 **CC: *giggles* Oh yeah. Logan is totally dadding it up all over the place, and I love it so much. he's so good at it!**

 **Arly: *gives you cookies as well* Yeah... Creed is just pure evil. Pure. Evil. I'm so sorry about him and his pure evil. At least he's dead?**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Better With Friends**

* * *

The rest of the holiday spent at the cottage was a lot quieter than the little group had intended it to be. Aside from a brief call from Tony to Logan's comm in which half the Avengers apologized profusely — Creed had left Tony with a broken arm and Steve had gotten the sense knocked out of him in trying to contain the big threat — it was just the four of them at the cottage.

Which was about what they'd expected, but it still wasn't the same. For one thing, Clint was pretty miserable when he couldn't move around as much as he wanted, and without Sicem sitting on his feet like he always did when Clint wasn't feeling good, it was even more miserable.

And for another thing, anyone with half a brain could see that both of the Barton boys were immensely traumatized, so the novelty of Thanksgiving together wasn't quite balancing it all out.

And for Clint, it was hard to sleep. He simply didn't feel very good, and on top of that, he didn't know how to sleep when Sicem wasn't there _and_ when he was still thinking about Creed and Hank and his dad if he got stuck in his head too long..

It was Sunday morning when Clint finally gave up on trying to sleep and came downstairs to get a soda and curl up with another book — he'd already finished all the ones he brought from Storm's supply. But Logan was already down there — Clint saw him moving in the kitchen before he heard him — and he paused for a second before he went ahead in anyway.

He really wanted a Sprite.

"Feel like breakfast, kiddo?" Logan asked, clearly setting up to make some omelettes.

Clint shrugged. "I was just… I was just gonna get some Sprite. I'm still not feeling real good, and my mom… my first mom… she always gave me Sprite when I didn't feel good."

Logan nodded at that. "I just stoked up the fire; curlin' up over there might help too."

Clint nodded. "I dunno why I don't feel good. I'm not sick," he said quietly. "I just… I wanna be okay so I can…" He trailed off when he opened the door to the fridge. "How come there's a cake box in the fridge?"

Logan let out a breath at that. "Your mom insisted. That's why."

"Yeah, but my birthday isn't 'til next week, and we always celebrate it on the actual day."

"Yeah, well. It's my birthday today." Logan shrugged. "Probably a big part of why Creed was poking around."

"It's your birthday?" Clint scrunched up his nose. "What's… what's that got to do with Sabretooth?"

"He's hunted me down and started a fight just about every year for as long as I can remember."

"That's not a good birthday present," Clint said, grabbing his can of Sprite and sitting down at the table to frown at Logan.

"That's how it's always been," he said, shrugging again. "Sure didn't ask for it."

Clint was quiet for a long time as Logan worked up some omelettes before he looked back up at Logan. "That… that makes sense," he said quietly. "'Cause he was saying about wrapping me up for you."

Logan stopped cold at that and turned toward him. "What."

"Well, he said — he said he was gonna kill me, but he wanted you to ... um ... to come see," Clint said, staring intently at his Sprite in his hands.

Logan set aside what he was doing and made his way over to Clint, crouching to his eye level with his hands on his shoulders. "I don't know how much I can tell you, but I did everything I could think of to make sure he's not ever gonna bother anyone ever again. He's as dead as anything I've ever seen, and there aren't even any pieces for him to pull together."

Clint nodded quietly and didn't move one way or the other. "It's okay," he said in that same quiet voice.

"Like hell it is," Logan said.

"It is, though," Clint said, finally looking back up. "He's gone now, so… so it's okay. Right?"

"Like I said," he agreed, "he's gone. That part's okay, but everything leading up to it? No."

Clint nodded. "Yeah. He hurt my family, and — and that's not okay," he agreed. "And he even hurt you, even if he didn't get to hit you as much as he wanted." He smirked quietly and looked at Logan sideways. "I saw, you know. I saw he was getting mad 'cause he couldn't win."

"He got mad that he couldn't bait me into acting like him in that fight," Logan said, nodding. "Wanted it all snarls and claws down to the end of it. Always hated when I'd use my training."

"That's dumb," Clint said. "If you're a trained samurai, then you use that samurai stuff. That's just — that's just how that works."

Logan nodded. "Yeah, but … for me, if I get mad enough, I can't think to use it," Logan said.

"Like how Mom forgets to speak English?"

"Yeah," Logan said with a little chuckle. "Only it turns out a lot worse for me when I do that."

"What do you do? Japanese?"

"No. Snarls and growls mostly." He cleared his throat. "I just forget how to talk."

"Oh." Clint nodded and turned the Sprite can around a few times. "I do that when I'm scared," he said. "I just wanna disappear."

"I want to chase off whatever got me riled," Logan said.

Clint smiled up at Logan. "Well, thanks," he said quietly. "'Cause you sure did."

"Long as you three are okay, that's what matters."

Clint blinked at Logan for a second and then smiled lightly. "Yeah," he said. "I'm real glad you were there."

"That was all on K," Logan said. "And … to a smaller degree, believe it or not, Cap didn't want you two goin' alone."

"We have the best family," Clint said with a little grin. "We got Barney's circus friends, and we got the X-Men _and_ the Avengers."

"The spandex circus," Logan deadpanned.

Clint giggled. "Yeah, that." He glanced up at Logan. "So — so you can kiss Mom and stuff because — because I don't think it's so bad if she has a boyfriend who can keep her safe."

"That's good to know," Logan said. "But I'll leave her to make the call on that."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, but… but I won't stop you," he said. "And I don't think Barney will either. He was saying how you told him to hide and helped him be a hero too, and I thought that was pretty cool."

Logan nodded at that. "He did just fine, by the way."

"Of course he did. He's my big brother." Clint tipped his chin up Logan's way. "He's the best."

"He's pretty damn good," Logan said with a smirk. "Wanna pour up some coffee for your mom?"

Clint nodded with a little grin. "Uh-huh," he said. "I'll take it over to her."

"Tell her to stay where she is, too," Logan said. "I'll bring her breakfast to her."

"She doesn't like being stuck," Clint said.

"She'll be okay," Logan said. "She's usually up by now, and she's still out."

Clint nodded. "She got pretty tired from what Sabretooth did, and now she's just… she doesn't wanna do stuff."

"Healing takes it out of you," Logan said. "Just gotta make sure she's got food, water, and rest. She'll be givin' me a hard time by noon."

Clint giggled. "I like how she teases everyone," he admitted, his eyes sparkling.

"It's how you know she likes you."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, I know. That's why I let her call me a duck."

"Like you could stop her," Logan said, shaking his head.

"I could if it bothered me," Clint said. "She doesn't do things that bother me."

"Because you're her littlest."

Clint giggled. "Yeah, I still think it's funny how she whistled at Barney when he was kissing Ana." He got up to grab a mug of coffee once Logan poured it out. "Thanks, Logan."

Logan waved him off, and Clint smiled to himself as he headed down the hallway, the warm coffee clutched close as he invited himself in with a little smile. "Hi, Mom," he called out.

K opened up one eye and smiled his way. "Morning," she called back. "What are you doing, sweetheart?"

"Well, I couldn't sleep, so I came downstairs and talked to Logan," Clint said. He set the coffee down on K's nightstand and very carefully climbed up beside her.

She shifted just enough so that she could wrap an arm around him and pull him down into a snuggle. "Little blonde teddy bear. Yes. Good."

Clint giggled and snuggled right back into her. "You gotta make up your mind, Mom. Am I a teddy bear or a duck?"

"Since I can squish you? Right now, you're a teddy bear."

"Okay." Clint smiled and tucked into K's side before he glanced up at her for a second and bit his lip. "So… so I think it's okay if you and Logan are… are together," he said.

"You decided I'm not crazy then?" she asked. "Or you decided you like him?"

"Um, yes," Clint said. He snuggled in a little better. "I think it's a good idea if you — if you date someone who's nice and can make breakfast and can keep us safe."

"Helps a lot that I think he's cute, though," K said. "Because that's important too, you know."

Clint wrinkled his nose. "Okay, I guess."

"I'm glad you approve-ish all the same," she said before she gave him a little kiss and snuggled in better herself.

* * *

Eventually, Clint and Barney did have to go back to school, so the little group at K's cabin packed up to head back to Westchester — though Barney was progressively more nervous as they approached. Especially when he saw how big the school was.

"Oh wow," he whispered, staring out the windows of the truck. "Oh wow. Are you sure we're _allowed_ in this school?"

"You are," K said, nodding.

"But it's … it's a private school," he said.

"Yeah, and you're with two teachers going in, too," she said. "It's already figured out. They're looking forward to meeting you."

Barney frowned, but Clint bumped shoulders with him. "You got my teachers too," he said. "I already told Jean and Storm all about you, and they were real nice to me even though I didn't go to school very much. They'll help you too."

Barney nodded. "Okay. But I been out of school longer than you."

"It's okay," Clint promised. "They're really nice."

"Okay."

Thankfully, when they got to the school, it didn't take any time at all for Logan and K's reassurance to come to fruition — especially since Logan had asked Kitty to meet them there.

"Hi, Kitty!" Clint sang out.

"Hi Clint!" Kitty called out as she headed their way, though when she got to them, the first thing she did was give Logan a bear hug — which he returned and gave her a little kiss on top of her head. "I _thought_ you'd be back before Wolvie's birthday!" she said to Clint.

"I didn't know it was his birthday," Clint said. "I didn't find out until there was a cake!"

Kitty stopped and looked more shocked. "You guys had a cake? He never lets us do that!"

"Killed Creed," Logan said. "There was reason to celebrate for a change."

Kitty nodded, her eyes wide. "Kurt said that you guys … he said it was pretty bad," she said, glancing at the Barton boys.

"Everyone's fine," K said quietly. "Hank checked them over, but … maybe don't squeeze Clint too hard."

"Yeah, I'm still a little yellow," Clint said with a nod.

Kitty frowned at that before she took a deep breath and turned her attention to Barney. "So — are you ready to start here?" she asked. "I know you're not going to be here long, but Kurt is already excited to have a fellow carnie in the house for a while."

Barney smiled lightly at that, though he seemed a little starstruck by Kitty. "Uh-huh."

Kitty glanced between Barney and Clint with a grin. "I thought I'd have Clint give you your tour, but if you're hurting, Clint … I can take care of him for you. I'm done with all my work already for the whole break."

Clint glanced at Barney and then grinned crookedly. "Okay," he said, though when Barney's back was turned, he signed to K, _You can't call me the lady killer anymore. It's Barney._

K chuckled at that. _Genetic. You both are._

Clint stuck his tongue out at her. _No. No, it's just Barney._

K raised an eyebrow at him as Jubilee slipped past the corner from a dead run and then rushed his way, only to stop at the very last second and give him the most gentle almost-hug ever. "I heard you helped hand out a butt whoopin' to a giant ugly loser. Welcome to the club!"

Clint smiled up at her. "I didn't do anything — Barney did all the cool stuff."

"Um. Excuse me, you were unfortunate enough to have him drag you off to play Wolvie bait. Twice now. You are _so_ in the club."

"Jubilee thinks she's the president," Kitty said.

"And if you didn't think it went by _seniority_ and just admitted that I'm right …" Jubilee said, looking exasperated.

"If that was the case, neither one of you'd be on the board," Logan said as he shouldered K's bag.

"You're all nuts, aren't you?" Barney whispered, though he was smirking Clint's way as his little brother nodded and mouthed out 'yep'.

"Whatever, Wolvie," Kitty said as she reached over to take Barney's wrist. "Come on, might as well get started. You have to say hi to Cyclops first. He'll let you know what the story is with your classes."

"Ooh, I want to come to that," Clint said. "I want to know where I can find Barney when I wanna bug him."

"Okay, great! Come on," Kitty said, still grinning. "He'll get to pick if he wants to split that room with you in your mom's suite or if he wants to go get a roomie with the regulars."

"Oh. Um." Clint bit his lip and looked toward Barney, who straightened up a bit.

"I'm sticking with Clint," Barney said quickly. He leaned in toward Kitty seriously. "He needs someone to look out for him."

"That's the smarter move anyhow," Kitty said. "The dorms don't have TVs in them, and I know for a fact that your mom and Logan watch movies almost as much as Clint does. In the suite."

Barney grinned crookedly. "That sounds nice," he said with a nod. "I really want to catch up on some movies I've been missing on the tour. Not like we have much time for TV… or space for a TV…"

"Oooh, then you'll love the movie room," Kitty said. "The whole student body has our own theatre? So we do marathons on the weekend. But … that's in the tour."

Barney gave Kitty a grin and a showman's bow. "Lead on!"

Logan didn't try to hide the smirk, and K outright grinned. "Oh, yeah — make sure that Scott puts him in drama," K said.

"Hey, I'm training to be a ringmaster one day," Barney said. "I can handle little stages too."

K laughed at him and waved him off. "Have fun — and make sure he knows how to get 'home', huh?"

"Will do," Kitty said with a little salute. "Oh, and it's Scott's night tonight … so you've been warned."

"So we're eating whatever Jean wants, right?" Clint said with a smirk.

"Got it in one," Logan said.

"She's the one who's having a baby, right?" Barney said.

"Like that has a bearing on it," Logan chuckled.

Clint giggled. "C'mon, Barney. You'll meet everyone real soon. I'm pretty sure Miss Jean will be with Scott… or with Mr. Professor Xavier. He's probably gonna want to talk to you too."

"Totally standard," Jubilee said, then blew a massive bubble — silently offering Barney a piece of gum.

Barney smiled at Jubilee as he snagged the piece of gum, and the boys followed the girls up to where Scott was, in fact, waiting to go over Barney's compressed school schedule — with a very pregnant Jean.

"Wow, you're — you're just about gonna have a Christmas baby, huh?" Barney blurted out, getting Clint to elbow him in the stomach.

"That would be wonderful," Jean said, though she was smiling warmly at them both.

Clint grinned Jean's way and waved. "Hi, Jean. How's Rachel?"

"For now, pretty quiet," Jean said. "Stretching, but the kicking has more or less backed off. Thanks for asking." She leaned forward just a bit. "How was the cottage — once the trash was taken out?"

"Pretty good," Clint said with a shrug. "We had cake for Logan's birthday." He paused. "It was… it was really quiet," he admitted, and Jean didn't have to try hard to know he was still upset at losing Sicem.

She let out a little sound and crossed the room to pull him into a hug. "It'll all be better soon, I'm sure."

Clint nodded and positively snuggled into the hug, which had Barney raising his eyebrows. "I guess… they're pretty close?" he whispered to Kitty.

"Jean is like that with everyone," Kitty said. "Especially if you're close to one of the teachers. It's like a big family."

Barney nodded. "Yeah, that's how the circus is. Everyone is real tight."

Kitty smiled at him. "You know, the teachers all make sure the kids that live here get real Christmases too," she said. "Everyone gets spoiled a little bit' no one is left out. Of course … you have your mom here …"

Barney grinned and nodded. "Yeah, we had Christmas together last year, and it was pretty great," he said. "I got presents for her this year too."

She nodded. "The professor gives the kids an allowance to do that if they want. Family that didn't disown them … close friends, favorite teachers … even girlfriends and boyfriends if they have them. It's really good for everyone.

"Oooh, Barney, did you get a present for your girlfriend?" Clint asked with a massive grin.

"Shut up, Clint."

"You did, didn't you?"

"Shut up, Clint. She's not my girlfriend," Barney insisted, turning even pinker around the edges as he said it.

"You were sure kissing her like she was," Clint said with a grin.

"Shut _up_ , Clint."

"Nothing wrong with having a girlfriend," Kitty said, bumping his shoulder.

Barney turned even pinker. "She's not — we're not—"

Clint giggled. "It's okay, Barn. You can go back to kissing her come springtime."

"Aw, no one asked you," Barney grumbled.

"Just think," Jubilee said, almost singing it out. "She'll have _alll winter to pine for you_ … she'll be missing those kisses, I'm _sure_."

Barney turned pinker still until Scott finally took mercy on the kid and at least tried to bring the conversation back around to Barney's classes — which he'd be taking on the same schedule as the other kids in the school when school was in session, at least for the classes like combat that he wasn't behind in… but he'd be getting extra assignments on the side and doing some tutoring classes.

It sounded like a lot to Barney at first, but then seeing how Clint was grinning and curled up with Jean and asking her questions about her little girl on the way, it was hard not to feel like this was a good place to be…

"This isn't so bad," he said at last when he looked down at his schedule.

"And we get to play when we're not doing classes and stuff," Clint said. "I'll help you if you want."

"Your mom is prepping to teach, too," Scott said. "If all goes well, there should be enough for a riding class next fall."

"Ooh, right. Mom said she'd show us how to shoot on horseback!"

"That … probably isn't going to be an offered class," Scott said.

"Well, that's okay. She'll teach us anyway because we're _her kids_ ," Clint said, still perfectly proud of that fact.

Scott couldn't help but smirk. "Of course," he agreed.

"Can I show him our room now — or do we gotta talk to Mr. Professor X?" Clint asked.

"The professor can speak with you tomorrow," Scott said. "Go ahead and get settled in. He'll have Christmas break to get used to the layout."

Clint grinned at that and gave Jean one more hug before he slid over to Barney. "Come on. I'll show you which bed is mine."


	16. Arrow the Archer Dog

**Notes: CC: Barney and his brother are totally ladies men and nothing can take this away from me, okay? :P Seriously, though, I adore the real _family_ dynamics going on here. How can you not?**

 **Arly: YAY! I'm so excited that you're on board the train for this family. They all deserve some happiness :D**

 **Griezz: I think you're forgetting about the setting, though. This is an era before cell phones, and the Avengers aren't exactly on super buddy-buddy terms with the X-Men, so it wouldn't occur to them to talk to Jean or Charles right off the bat. Add to that the fact that Creed was able to sniff around the Tower twice now and likely figure out the circus connection... and that he's filthy rich and wouldn't have a problem getting there in a matter of hours and there really wasn't _time_ to get past the "recover and freak out and try to catch him before we have to scare a kid by telling him a monster is coming" stage before Creed arrived. (Moral of the story: don't underestimate Creed. Something the Avengers do _constantly_.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Arrow the Archer Dog**

* * *

Of course, being home in Westchester also meant that when Clint's birthday came up a few days later, there were plenty of people that wanted to spoil him — not just for the birthday but for everything that had happened in the past few weeks that they were trying to balance out.

K had started things out with chocolate chip pancakes, and things kept getting better from there. Barney had gotten him some purple arm guards and finger slings for his bow, and K had gotten him a bullwhip and an Indiana Jones hat that he refused to take off all day.

Storm had gotten him a few books, including one called _Last of the Mohicans_ that Clint thought looked like it would be harder than the others, but Storm said he was up for it. And Jean and Jan had clearly conspired with what felt like half a wardrobe's worth of clothes for him.

The Avengers had sent over gifts, too, which had Barney in awe as Clint opened various archery-related gifts and what looked like an authentic helmet from Thor… which Clint giggled at and promised he was going to put it on his wall because his mom was Swedish so it meant he was following her footsteps.

Of course, the day didn't go past without at least one little hiccup, and the one noticeable absence was that of Logan — who had been with the Avengers since the day before on some kind of a Hydra mission. But even with that, Logan had managed to get back before the big birthday dinner was entirely over.

He hadn't been able to take the time to get out of uniform though, so when he came in, it was with a partially damaged yellow and blue uniform on, his cowl shredded, and with something very fluffy in his arms. "Got here as quick as I could," Logan said.

"Oh wow," Barney breathed out, even as Clint rushed over.

"Are you okay?" he blurted out.

Logan frowned at him and nodded. "'Course I am. Just took longer gettin' here than I figured. But … I thought you might help this little guy out." He shifted his arms so that the little black nose came out from under Logan's elbow with a high-pitched growl from being moved.

Clint froze for a second, blinking at the tiny yellow puppy, before he let out a delighted sort of sound and held his hands out for the little dog, grinning at him widely. "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow," he whispered.

"Whatcha think?" Logan asked as he straightened up. "Think he'll do?"

"Uh-huh," Clint whispered.

The little pup whimpered a little, then tipped his head back until his nose was under Clint's chin — sniffling and making little noises before he just started licking his chin and trying to snuggle up.

Clint giggled and snuggled right up to the little puppy. "I'm gonna name him Arrow," he declared.

"Of course you are," Jean said in a voice that said she was dying of cute.

K made her way over to give the pup a look, checking out his teeth and eyes — all while he wagged his tail and tried to lick her. Once she petted him, he leaned into her hand, clearly settling down a little. "Oh, he's a lover." She turned to Clint. "More than Sicem was at this age, even."

"That's perfect for Clint," Barney pointed out. "He needs lots of spoiling."

K swatted Barney's arm for that but didn't argue it as she made her way over to give Logan a kiss. "Good call."

"Happens now and again," Logan said with a shrug.

 _You're trying to kill me,_ Jean projected to Logan from where she was wiping her eyes.

 _We both know that's not true. Done that before. Didn't like it,_ Logan shot right back without missing a beat.

Jean shook her head at him. _Yes, but now you've found a way to do it with sweetness._

 _You're overly emotional, that's all,_ Logan argued.

 _Yes, I am!_ She gave him a look. _And that is the sweetest thing I've seen!_ She gestured toward where Clint was curled up with little Arrow. _Just look at them!_

Logan gave her a look but didn't comment — since there was no arguing with her like this. _Kid needed his dog. That's all._

Jean nodded at that and at least tried to look more serious. _He really did. That dog was his security blanket._

 _I know,_ Logan answered, though it was clear that he was trying to carry the blame for the dog getting cut down.

Jean let out a sigh, but instead of trying to argue it, she simply projected to K what it was Logan was thinking. _I'm too tired to deal with his nonsense when I could be drowning in your son's cuteness. Please tell him how wrong he is._

 _So drown in the cute and I'll deal with him. I figured as much anyhow,_ K replied.

 _Thank you,_ Jean said, giving K a warm smile as she leaned back against Scott and contentedly watched Barney getting in on the cuteness with Clint.

It didn't take much for Clint to get entirely wrapped up in Arrow — and he managed to get most of the kids at Xavier's following him right along, entirely entranced with the sweet little pup. Which was the perfect opportunity for K to grab a hold of Logan and pull him off to his room to have a little word.

"Bold move, getting him a pup with no warning," K said, though Logan took the opportunity to get out of the bloodied and sweaty uniform.

"Seemed like a good idea to me," he said. "And … seein' as I was runnin' late..."

"Don't even lie," K said as she slipped over to give him a kiss. "You had Jarvis watching that pup while you were out with your friends."

"I did," he agreed.

K paused and smiled almost to herself as she tipped her chin down. "I don't think I ever properly thanked you for getting us away from him — or for killing that idiot."

"My fault he was on your tail to start with," Logan said, but at that, K reached up fast to cover his mouth with her hand.

"No." She looked entirely serious, but wouldn't move her hand, so Logan's only means of questioning her thought process was to raise an eyebrow as he put his hands at her waist. "If we would have managed to escape the creeps that had me down when you swooped in to save us … he would have been the next step anyhow. I know it, you know it … I busted myself out and got him on my tail all on my own." He shook his head, and she shifted to place her hands on either side of his neck. "You did everything that I couldn't to get him gone. But go ahead and tell me I'm wrong. Just before you try to do that, think for one minute about what would have happened to us if he'd caught up to me before you did."

Logan was quiet for a moment, but he didn't drop his gaze from hers, and when he opened his mouth, she pushed forward to shut him up with a kiss before pushing him backwards into his shower stall.

* * *

Clint and Barney spent most of the holiday season playing with Arrow, completely wrapped up in the little puppy and in hanging out together. It was especially good for Clint that the sweet little ball of yellow fluff didn't seem to want to go to sleep unless he was curled up with Clint, too.

But for as much as the mansion was enjoying the boys and the puppy, it was only a few weeks before one more little addition joined the family, just a couple days after New Year's.

Clint hadn't actually been awake when Jean had her baby, but he heard what had happened when he came downstairs and almost immediately spun toward Kitty when she told him. "Can we go see?" he asked. "I promised Jean I was gonna help her!"

"Um … I don't see why not," Kitty said. "She's taking visitors."

"Okay, good," Clint said, nodding to himself before he rushed down, leaving Barney looking a little out of his depth and shrugging shyly Kitty's way before he decided to follow Clint anyway.

When he got down to the medical wing, Clint was't surprised at all to see that Jean was all curled up with Scott — nor was he surprised to see that the little one they had between them was redheaded. "Knew it!" he called out, rushing over to peer over the tops of Jean's arms to the little girl. "Knew she'd have red hair."

"Do you want to say hello?" Jean asked.

Clint nodded. "Uh-huh. Please." He sat down carefully so that Scott could show him how to gently support the baby's head as he held her, and then he broke into a grin. "Hi, Rachel," he said. "Looks like you're the new baby of the school, so I'm gonna show you some tricks and stuff for how to deal with all the attention."

"Sounds like a big job," Scott said with a grin that he wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

"Well, I got Barney," Clint said. "And he's real good at being a big brother, so he knows how to do that stuff. I'll just ask him."

"She'll be lucky to have you looking out for her," Jean said with a wide smile.

"Somebody's gotta," Clint pointed out. "I think everybody needs somebody."

"Oh, definitely," Jean said, her smile only widening — especially when she saw Barney standing at the door, hesitant to come in. Sure, he'd spent some time at the school, but he hadn't warmed up to everyone as fast as Clint had, and he was still a little shy in situations like this.

"C'mon, Barn. Come say hi!" Clint called out.

"Oh, okay," Barney said, glancing at Jean and Scott and only moving forward when he got nods from them both. He peeked over Clint's shoulder and grinned. "So… can I have this one and trade you for Clint?" he asked Jean. "She looks more like me."

"Ha ha, very funny," Clint said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, I am," Barney said, grinning even wider.

"You're not trading me," Clint said. "That's not how it works."

"Jean would take you, wouldn'tcha, Jean?" Barney asked, looking up at Jean, who couldn't hide her amusement at the boys' antics.

"I would," she said with a nod. "But not in trade — I'll just keep all of you for myself." To prove her point, she telekinetically pulled all three of the kids over so that she could catch them in a hug and kiss Clint's cheek. She even got Barney, who flushed and tried to wipe off the kiss and only had Jean chuckling to herself.

"You can't keep us — Mom adopted _both_ of us," Clint pointed out.

"Oh, I know. But I'm still keeping you," Jean teased. "Rachel needs big brothers."

"I thought you said the X-Men were good guys, Clint," Barney said. "But she's a kidnapper!"

"I think she's still high on the stuff Hank gave her for having a baby," Clint said, earning a sort of snerk out of Scott that had Jean rolling her eyes and pushing Scott a few steps back telekinetically in retaliation. Which of course only had Scott grinning harder.

"Don't you think you should wait a little bit before you start giving her that look?" K asked as she stepped in with a tray for Jean. "Your man said you were dying of hunger."

Jean beamed at her and nodded. "Oh, yeah, I absolutely was," she agreed as she waved K over. "Luckily, I had two of the cutest kids in the school to keep me company while I was wasting away to nothing."

"Clearly. You look like you lost at least twenty pounds, you poor lamb," K shot right back. "Has to be a shock to your system." She set the food down for Jean and gave her a little smile. "Congratulations, both of you."

"We're pretty pleased," Jean agreed with a smile, tipping her head down to the little girl. "Just so you know, your boys have already claimed her as their own. I couldn't stop them."

"And didn't try hard," Scott said, earning another little look from Jean.

"Of course they have," K said. "Why wouldn't they? They needed your little girl to spoil. Obviously."

"Barney says she looks like him," Clint reported. "He's being ridiculous."

"He thinks all redheads look like him," K said with a wave. "She clearly favors her mother."

"Which is what we were hoping for anyway," Scott said.

Jean rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder. "You're ridiculous."

"Oh, I don't know that's entirely true," K said. "I'm sure she was hoping for more from you."

"That's okay — Clint looks just like our dad but he's totally Mom," Barney said with an encouraging smile Jean's way. "You gotta wait and see."

"I think they want to take their time and enjoy their newborn," K said to the boys. "Just as she is."

"Oooh, we should let you guys do that," Clint said, scooting along with a little smirk as he handed Rachel back to Scott. "You guys are never gonna stop grinning, huh?"

"No reason to," Scott said as he settled Rachel into the crook of his arm.

"Well, she's real pretty," Clint told Jean and then gave her a hug. "Have fun with your baby!" he sang out to her before he darted over to grab K's hand, with Barney not far behind.

 _You have the sweetest boys in the world. You know that, right?_ Jean projected out to K as the little group headed out.

 _I know that they adore family,_ K replied. _And they're both happy for yours._

 _It helps that they have you,_ Jean said. _They know they have something solid. It makes a big difference._

 _They never should have had to deal with anything less,_ K replied. _And if I could hunt down those responsible, I would. It's just a shame they're out of reach already._

 _I'd come with you,_ Jean admitted. _One look at Rachel, and… I'd come with you._

 _Good thing all we have to do is stay here for now and spoil them._

 _I still can't wait to see you teaching them to shoot on horseback,_ Jean said, unable to hide the spark of laughter.

 _Working on it,_ K said. _Finding the right horses takes time. But they'll be great._

Jean beamed at her. _I'll take some Polaroids for them, I promise. Something they can show off to people when the horses aren't available. You and I both know those boys like to show off._

 _They really do,_ K said. _You haven't seen them compete head to head yet. Just wait._

 _I've already seen a little of that with their schoolwork. Barney's working hard already and he's only just started_ — _he can't stand Clint being ahead of him._

 _It won't take him long to catch up then,_ K said, her mental voice carrying a laugh along with it.

 _Jubilee already caught him practicing his multiplication tables over lunch… he's absolutely tuned into the competition,_ Jean laughed.

 _They'll never stop that,_ K answered. _But you? You should get some rest. You worked_ hard _. And you deserve the break._

Jean nodded, already leaning back into Scott. _I've already been informed that there are no shortage of babysitters around here,_ she admitted. _And that does sound nice._

 _All the more reason to soak up the time with her. Before the fights start._

 _Oh, I'm sure Logan will win,_ Jean said. _Would you send him down? He's pretending he's being considerate by letting everyone else go first, but I'd like for him to meet Rachel._

 _He is being considerate,_ K said. _But yeah, consider it done._

 _Thank you!_ Jean beamed at her. _And if he argues, tell him I insisted and that it's his duty to a brand new mom._

 _He doesn't argue with me_.

 _So, can you stay forever?_ Jean teased.

 _I'm not so sure that we wouldn't wear out the welcome well before then._

 _Are you kidding?_ Jean shook her head. _Have you seen the kids playing with Clint and Arrow? There would be a revolt if you left. There almost was one when you were gone this summer._

 _I think you're overstating things, but okay._

 _Really, K, you'd think you of all people wouldn't underestimate how loved your boys are,_ Jean said, shaking her head again.

 _Well if you're going to be specific, then I guess I'll stick around until they're graduated._

Jean rolled her eyes good-naturedly. _Yes, you and Logan are a matched set,_ she teased. _We'll just see how things are when we get there, shall we?_

K didn't bother answering her at that, mostly because the elevator doors had opened up on the main floor and the boys were already headed for the kitchen to get breakfast. She hadn't gotten her coffee poured before Logan walked in and she was quick to re-route him. "Jean says you need to go meet her little one before she decides you hate her."

"That's not what she said," Logan said, shaking his head at her.

"Close enough," K said before she popped up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Go on. I'm sure the boys will still be scarfing down food when you get back."

Logan shook his head at her again, then turned to see that yes, the Barton boys were indeed doing their best savage routine on their breakfasts — though they hadn't gotten to the food fight stage that always _accidentally_ happened to consist only of things that Arrow would eat ... _just_ yet. He set his mug down without filling it up first and then simply headed down to meet little Rachel.

By the time he got down there, Hank was just finishing up a few checks on the little one that he insisted needed to be done before they could head upstairs — though of course, Jean couldn't help teasing him that he really only wanted more time with the baby.

"Easy enough to bust him," Logan said. "Not like he'll even argue it hard."

"Not in the least," Hank agreed with a smile. "And when you meet her, you'll back me up."

"She looks just like Jean," Scott said, still grinning.

"Lucky kid," Logan said.

"That's what I said," Scott said, plucking Rachel up once Hank was done and very obviously not caring about anything else at the moment.

Logan shook his head at that, but kept his distance. "You two did good work," he said.

"You really should say hello," Jean said. "She's even more amazing in person." When Logan didn't immediately respond, though, Jean telekinetically pulled him over. "Please?" she said, fluttering her eyelashes for effect.

"I'm here ain't I?" Logan said, frowning slightly at her. "I'm just not gettin' in the middle of you three."

"When are you going to learn — we don't argue with Jean," Scott said with a more subdued smirk, shaking his head before he simply handed Rachel to Logan. "You'd think you'd know that by now."

"Slow learner," Logan muttered, though he adjusted the way the little one was curled into him.

Jean smiled as she got to her feet and came over to stand between Scott and Logan, leaning over to smile at Rachel — who was sound asleep. "See? This is all I wanted," she said. "She'll be spoiled rotten."

"She's a newborn. That's most of what they do," Logan deadpanned.

"Oh, go ahead and be like that," Jean said. "Doesn't change the fact that she's going to have the best extended family known to the universe."

"Jean has high hopes," Scott joked. "No idea what we're going to do if anyone else has any little ones."

"Oh, hush," Jean said, shaking her head at him and kissing his cheek.

"Pretty sure you don't have any competition there, Slim."

"You know me; always planning for the future," Scott joked, though that had Jean hitting him in the shoulder and then kissing him, projecting for him to stop before he pushed Logan into panicking.

Which surprised Scott. _I wasn't_ —

 _You were,_ Jean said. _Don't get me wrong; the excitement is very cute. But don't go pushing any of them. You know better._

 _I wasn't, Jean._

 _Sure, Scott._

Scott shook his head at that, but seeing as Jean was kissing him anyway… "Think you could watch Rachel for a little while, Logan?" he asked, not waiting for an answer as he swept Jean up with a grin.

Logan looked up at him with a little frown. "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm just going to make sure Jean's comfortable," Scott said, already carrying her out. "It'll just be a little while."

"Sure you don't want … I dunno, _anyone else_ to watch her for you?" Logan asked, but when the two of them were entirely wrapped up and not looking back, Logan looked down at Rachel with a frown. "Yeah, sure, I'll bring her up for you," Logan said, shaking his head at them — though Hank was quick to stop him from leaving just yet, doing his best to give the Summerses a head start.


	17. Permission

**Notes: Griezz, The "Arrow" name was a callback to Lucky's original name in the comics. And since Clint is a teeny eight-year-old archer... it had to be done :P**

 **Arly, I KNOW! I AM DYING OF CUTE TOO! I love getting to work on this universe, because it always makes me grin. I'm like... giddy giggling over here, I swear to you.**

 **And CC, I disagree. That was a totally called-for move. Jean says so. :P**

 **This is the last chapter of this volume, but volume 4 of this universe will be up soon. I'll be calling it "Thicker Than Blood." :D**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Permission**

* * *

One of the nice side effects of Jean and Scott's little girl being around was that the institute felt even safer with everyone in such obviously protective moods. At least, it seemed that way to Barney and Clint, neither of whom had really been able to see it when that same feeling was directed their way.

Still, it was enough that both boys were able to relax a little — and for Barney, able to hunker down on schoolwork in the compressed semester that he had to learn.

It was a little hard to focus, though … not only because Barney had chickened out of trying to even talk to Kitty when he had such an obvious crush on her… but because with no Sabretooth threat and with the department at least for the moment backing off, presumably waiting for the mansion to be a little less high-security… well, there was plenty going on.

If it wasn't K's slow process of finding riding horses for a spring training, it was Kurt's Danger Room pirate sessions or Remy _already_ making plans for Mardi Gras or Jean getting gooey about whatever new thing Rachel was doing.

There had been a late winter storm that dumped plenty of snow on the mansion grounds recently, and that was the perfect excuse for the boys to put homework aside for a little while and play — not just throwing snowballs but watching their mom working with the few horses she had found thus far and training them in the snow.

There were also forts to be made and fellow students to be assaulted. That was a high priority. The boys were excellent at it, too, practically sniping students and teachers alike with well-aimed snowballs — until Logan snuck up behind them and nearly scared them both out of their boots with a growl right behind them.

"Thought you two were used to growls by now," Logan chuckled.

Barney shook his head at Logan, and Clint was dramatically holding onto his heart. "You scared us!" Clint said. "You snuck up on us!"

"I coulda pounced on you too," Logan teased as he packed up a handful of snow, then tossed it Clint's way. "But then I mighta scared you half to death."

"Yeah, don't kill my brother," Barney said with a crooked grin.

"Not gonna kill either one of ya," Logan said before he leaned against the nearest tree. "You two overly busy?"

"Not really," Barney said. "I mean, I'm probably supposed to be doing my science stuff…"

"If you're too deep in homework, I'll catch you another time," Logan said.

"Nah, we're taking a break," Clint said, waving his hand. "Soon as Barney's done with science, we're done for the weekend anyway."

Logan nodded his head at that. "Then I needed to have a word with the two of you."

"Okay, what's the deal?" Barney asked, plopping down and leaning back against the wall of their fort.

Logan watched both of them for a moment and then drew in a breath. "I wanted to talk to you about your mom." He paused to let the statement hang — and to see how open the boys were to even have a discussion — before he pressed further. "You know I care about her. A lot. And if the two of you are alright with it, I'd like to ask her to marry me."

Barney's eyebrows shot up faster than Clint's, though he was obviously more open to the idea, judging by the sort of awed, "Really?" that he breathed out.

Logan nodded, holding Barney's gaze. "Really. But I'm not lookin' for an answer today. Think it over. Hash it out between you. I know it's a big deal."

"Yeah," Clint said quietly. "Yeah, okay."

Logan nodded. "Just come find me when you decide. Take your time."

Barney glanced at Clint and then shrugged. "Well, I think it's a great idea, but … I'll talk to Clint, okay?"

"No pressure," Logan said before he pushed himself off of the tree. "You won't hear a word from me until you come to me about it. Let him make his own choice."

Barney nodded at that, though he didn't say anything until Logan was gone and he turned to face Clint, clearly confused and almost mad about it. "What happened? I thought you _liked_ Logan."

Clint frowned and glanced down at his hands. "Yeah, I do."

"So what's the hangup?"

"I dunno."

"You know he won't hit K, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you know he won't hit _us_ , right?"

"Yeah."

"And you know he's real protective of all of us and he ain't gonna let no one screw with us, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so what part of having an X-Man _and_ an Avenger for a stepdad is bothering you?" Barney asked outright, his arms crossed. "Because from where I stand, that just means we got someone on our side."

"Yeah." Clint folded his arms so he was holding his elbows. "I dunno."

Barney shook his head and made a little scoffing noise. "Well, hurry up and figure it out, Clint, because I bet she'll ask you to give her away and everything." He shrugged. "It's not so bad, you know. Miranda's a lot happier with Paul. I figure it's kinda like that."

"Yeah, okay," Clint said, but he didn't really have all that much to say. "I don't feel like playing snowballs anymore."

Barney shook his head. " _Fine_ ," he said, rolling his eyes. "I guess you'll just have to abandon me to homework."

Clint smirked slightly at that. "Yep. Not even sorry."

* * *

Clint took the next few days to think over what Logan had said. He wasn't actually opposed to the idea… it was just hard to wrap his head around it. He didn't really want to share his mom... but on the other hand, Logan and K were already together all the time anyway….

Still, Clint was very grateful that Logan didn't actually press him on it. In fact, Logan just kept right on acting like everything was the same.

That didn't mean it _was_ the same, especially because Clint was pretty sure Jean had figured out what was going on, because she kept grinning every time Clint and Logan were in the same room and Clint found himself wondering if Logan would be okay for his mom — and she didn't even bother to hide her delighted smiling if Clint ever thought maybe it would be fun.

But Clint knew what was actually going on with Jean, and when he had finally decided Logan could marry his mom if he really wanted to, when he saw Jean in the morning, he stuck his finger in her face. "Don't spoil this for my mom," he warned her seriously.

"I won't," Jean promised quickly, one hand over her heart, and Clint held her gaze for a long time.

"Good," he said before he spun on his heel and headed to the garage, where he knew he'd find Logan. He didn't even give Logan any time to say hi, either, just went right into, "You gotta promise you're never gonna hurt her. You gotta swear it on something important."

Logan looked up at him from where he was sitting on the creeper seat next to his motorcycle. "Clint, I'd promise that anyhow."

"So do it," Clint said.

He nodded. "What do you want me to swear it on?"

Clint thought about it for a really long time before he nodded slowly. "You gotta swear it on your honor," he said.

Logan nodded and raised his hand. "I swear on my honor and my life, I'll never hurt her."

Clint watched Logan for another very long time before he finally nodded. "Okay. I believe you," he said. "So I guess… I guess that means you just gotta ask her now, right?"

Logan nodded again. "Yeah, but I'll give it a little time in case you change your mind. I'm in no rush. And you gotta be okay."

"You don't wanna marry her?" he asked with his nose scrunched up.

"I do," Logan said. "But I want to know for sure that you don't change your mind and decide I'm not good enough."

Clint kept his nose scrunched up for a long time before he shrugged. "Okay, I just thought you were gonna ask her, like, right this very second if you like her so much."

"I do, but I figure she might deserve something a little better than over coffee with Jeannie drooling on the counter to see what she says."

Clint grinned wickedly. "I made her promise not to spoil anything. Because she's really bad at that, and she's totally going to implode." He illustrated his point with a little explosive noise as he pushed his hands together and apart.

Logan grinned back at him. "Yeah. And you know who's gotta listen to all of her psychic rants?"

"Scott, right?"

Logan just started to chuckle at that.

Clint's grin widened a little more. "Okay, well, just… take really good care of her, I guess," he said as he scooted toward the door.

"You too," Logan said. "I know it's a package deal."

"I can take care of myself," Clint insisted. "There ain't no stupid Sabretooth anymore."

"Yeah, but you know the kind of trouble she causes … she'll need both of us watching out."

Clint grinned and nodded. "Oh yeah, for sure." He leaned forward. "It'll be good to have help when Barney's gone, because I still ain't forgotten about how there are bad guys after Mom. You gotta help me keep 'em away from her, okay?"

"I'll fight 'em tooth and nail," Logan promised. "Far as I'm concerned, she doesn't need to go anywhere she doesn't want to."

"Good." Clint nodded and then looked Logan over one more time. "And… and I dunno if I wanna call you 'dad', okay? So… don't get mad if I don't."

"You can call me 'Logan'," he said. "I don't mind one bit."

"Okay, good." Clint took a deep breath, held it, and then rushed out of the room — leaving Logan shaking his head, since he knew the kid would need the time.

* * *

It was still another week before Logan asked K — and the way that the boys knew was not any actual big announcement but the fact that Jean was pacing and doing a very bad job at pretending to be patient to wait for the boys to hear the news.

Not that they waited, either.

"He asked her, huh?" Barney said with a smirk.

"Why are you asking me?" Jean asked, her eyes dancing with laughter.

"Because you know," Barney said, gesturing to her.

"Yeah, I mean… you're pacing and you ain't got Rachel," Clint pointed out. "So it's big, and you're happy, and you're waiting for us so you can celebrate. So… yay!" He did a little dance without breaking eye contact with Jean — which had Barney snorting laughing.

"Have you told anybody else?" Barney managed to ask when he had (mostly) composed himself.

"Besides Scott," Clint put in, earning another snort of laughter from his brother.

Jean finally paused at that and turned their way, tipping her chin up slightly. "No, I have not."

"Good, 'cause I don't think Mom would like to be mobbed," Clint said, nodding seriously.

"No, she really wouldn't," Jean agreed, looking torn between waiting to pounce and trying to play it cool. "Good thing there's no mob."

The Barton boys glanced at each other and then, almost in unison, rushed over to go hug Jean — and, sneakily, sit on her to keep her from rushing over to Logan and K. They could tell that she wasn't far from breaking all form and simply celebrating right there on the spot.

"We told him he could ask her," Barney said.

"But Mom's real good about letting us make our own decisions," Clint added. "So you gotta let her decide when to do stuff like tell people."

"I wasn't going to tell anyone," Jean defended. "Not … until we threw the party anyhow …"

"Mom's not a big party person," Clint said.

"Yeah, but…" Barney paused. "When Miranda and Paul hear, there's gonna be a party at the circus too."

"Good point," Clint said.

"They can come to the wedding, right?" Jean said, smirking at the boys halfway planning out their own arrangements.

"Yeah, as long as it's in the off-season," Barney said.

"It's gotta be," Clint pointed out. "Because you gotta be there."

"Oooh, yeah, good point," Barney said, nodding along.

"Aww man. That means I gotta wear a suit, doesn't it?"

Barney cackled. "Sure does!"

"Ugh. I hate those!"

It wasn't too long though, before Logan and K came down — though they were acting just as casual as they ever did on their way to grab some coffee. "Hi boys," K called out. "Jean."

The boys glanced at each other and then at Jean before they seemed to decide without words that they had to beat Jean to the punch and simply rushed over to hug both Logan and K, both of them wearing huge grins.

"He got you a ring, huh?" Clint said, tipping his head toward K's left hand.

"He's old-fashioned like that," K said, offering her hand so the boys could look the ring over. "What do you think?"

"I think it looks pretty sharp," Clint said with a crooked grin.

"Ouch. Bad pun," Barney said, shaking his head.

"So you both gave him the green light, huh?" K asked, one arm around each of them.

"Yep!" Barney grinned over at her. "I mean, how could you not want him in the family? I'm gonna learn how to shoot with him next winter — he already said so."

"Then it'll just be a matter of time before he gets you started on motorcycle work, too," K said before she turned to Clint. "You alright, too, big guy?"

Clint nodded and gave her a quick hug. "I thought about it for a long time," he admitted. "And… and I think if you like him… then that's okay with me."

She looked surprised and turned to glance at Logan for a moment before returning her attention to Clint. "How long did you think about it?"

"A few days," Clint admitted sheepishly.

She smiled at him and nodded. "I don't mind; I'm not mad. I'm just … a little … I didn't expect _him_ to give you time, that's all."

"Yeah?" Clint glanced between K and Logan. "How come?"

"Just doesn't fit his usual 'go get it' attitude," K said.

Clint glanced over at Logan for a second before he couldn't help but smile. "Yeah," he said. "But that's … that's good. I think that's good for me and Barney, because if he's gonna marry you, that makes him our stepdad, so… that's good," he said softly.

"Yeah, I think so too," Barney agreed.

"Worth waitin' for," Logan said.


End file.
